Sample records for classical age-period-cohort approach

This study examined if temporal variations in daily cigarette smoking and never smoking among groups with different levels of education fit the pattern proposed by the theory of diffusion of innovations (TDI), while taking into account the separate effects of age, period and birth cohort (APC). Aggregated data from nationally representative interview surveys from Norway from 1976 to 2010 was used to calculate probabilities of smoking using an APC approach in which the period variable was normalized to pick up short term cyclical effects. Results showed that educational differences in smoking over time were more strongly determined by birth cohort membership than variations in smoking behavior across the life course. The probability of daily smoking decreased faster across cohorts among higher compared to lower educated. In contrast, the change in probability of never having smoked across cohorts was similar in the two education groups, but stronger among men compared to women. Moreover, educational differences in both daily and never smoking increased among early cohorts and leveled off among late cohorts. The results emphasizes the importance of birth cohort for social change and are consistent with TDI, which posits that smoking behavior diffuse through the social structure over time. PMID:25131273

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease of the motor neuron with poorly understood etiology. Recent studies have suggested that the incidence rate of ALS and the rate of death from ALS are increasing, but it is unclear whether this is due to changing exposures or improvements in diagnosis. We used age-period-cohort models to investigate trends in ALS incidence (hospitalization) from 1982 to 2009 and ALS mortality from 1970 to 2009 in Denmark. Among those 45 years of age or older, 4,265 deaths (incidence rate = 5.35 per 100,000 person-years) and 3,228 incident diagnoses (incidence rate = 5.55 per 100,000 person-years) were recorded. Age-adjusted mortality rates increased by an average of 3.0% annually between 1970 and 2009 and by an average of 2.1% annually after 1982. Age-period-cohort analyses suggested that the full age-period-cohort model provided the best fit to the mortality data (P < 0.001), although restriction to the post-1982 period suggested that the age-cohort model provided the best fit. Age-adjusted incidence rates increased by 1.6% annually after 1982 (P < 0.001), which was best explained by the age-period model, with borderline significant cohort effects (P = 0.08). A consistent finding regardless of parameterization or data subset appeared to be an increase in ALS incidence and mortality rate with later birth cohorts, up to a birth year of at least 1910. PMID:24064744

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease of the motor neuron with poorly understood etiology. Recent studies have suggested that the incidence rate of ALS and the rate of death from ALS are increasing, but it is unclear whether this is due to changing exposures or improvements in diagnosis. We used age-period-cohort models to investigate trends in ALS incidence (hospitalization) from 1982 to 2009 and ALS mortality from 1970 to 2009 in Denmark. Among those 45 years of age or older, 4,265 deaths (incidence rate = 5.35 per 100,000 person-years) and 3,228 incident diagnoses (incidence rate = 5.55 per 100,000 person-years) were recorded. Age-adjusted mortality rates increased by an average of 3.0% annually between 1970 and 2009 and by an average of 2.1% annually after 1982. Age-period-cohort analyses suggested that the full age-period-cohort model provided the best fit to the mortality data (P < 0.001), although restriction to the post-1982 period suggested that the age-cohort model provided the best fit. Age-adjusted incidence rates increased by 1.6% annually after 1982 (P < 0.001), which was best explained by the age-period model, with borderline significant cohort effects (P = 0.08). A consistent finding regardless of parameterization or data subset appeared to be an increase in ALS incidence and mortality rate with later birth cohorts, up to a birth year of at least 1910. PMID:24064744

Background Cancer has become a global health problem. China still suffers continuous increasing cancer mortality. To study the trend of cancer mortality in rural China, this paper established an Age-Period-Cohort model to discuss the age effect, period effect and cohort effect on cancer mortality in rural China. Methods The data were collected from the “China Health Statistical Yearbook” from 1990 to 2010. Collected data were analyzed by Age-Period-Cohort model and Intrinsic Estimation method. Results The age effect on the total cancer mortality represented a V trend. Compared with Group 0–4, Group 5–9 showed 71.87% lower cancer mortality risk. Compared with Group 5–9, Group 75–79 showed 38 times higher cancer mortality risk. The period effect on the total cancer mortality risk weakened firstly but then increased. It increased by 35.70% from 1990 to 2010, showing an annual average growth of 1.79%. The cohort effect on the total cancer mortality risk weakened by totally 84.94% from 1906–1910 to 2005–2010. Three “deterioration periods” and three “improvement periods” were witnessed during this period. The malignant cancer mortality varied similarly with the total cancer mortality, while benign cancer mortality and other cancer mortality represented different variation laws. Conclusions Although the total cancer mortality risk is increasing at an accelerated rate, cancer mortality risk in recent born year is decreasing, indicating very important impact of social change on the cancer mortality in rural China. PMID:24383432

The aim of this study is to explore the long-term trends of suicide mortality in China. We implemented the age-period-cohort (APC) framework, using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Our results showed that the net drift of suicide mortality was −4.727% (95% CI: −4.821% to −4.634%) per year for men and −6.633% (95% CI: −6.751% to −6.515%) per year for women, and the local drift values were below 0 in all age groups (p < 0.01 for all) for both sexes during the period of 1994–2013. Longitudinal age curves indicated that, in the same birth cohort, suicide death risk increased rapidly to peak at the life stage of 20–24 years old and 15–24 years old for men and women, respectively, and then showed a decelerated decline, followed by a rise thereafter after 54 years old for men and a slight one after 69 years old for women. The estimated period and cohort RRs were found to show similar monotonic downward patterns (significantly with p < 0.01 for all) for both sexes, with more quickly decreasing for women than for men during the whole period. The decreasing trend of suicide was likely to be related to the economic rapid growth, improvements in health care, enhancement on the level of education, and increasing awareness of suicide among the public in China. In addition, fast urbanization and the effective control of pesticides and rodenticides might be the special reasons behind these trends we observed in this study. PMID:27527195

The aim of this study is to explore the long-term trends of suicide mortality in China. We implemented the age-period-cohort (APC) framework, using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Our results showed that the net drift of suicide mortality was -4.727% (95% CI: -4.821% to -4.634%) per year for men and -6.633% (95% CI: -6.751% to -6.515%) per year for women, and the local drift values were below 0 in all age groups (p < 0.01 for all) for both sexes during the period of 1994-2013. Longitudinal age curves indicated that, in the same birth cohort, suicide death risk increased rapidly to peak at the life stage of 20-24 years old and 15-24 years old for men and women, respectively, and then showed a decelerated decline, followed by a rise thereafter after 54 years old for men and a slight one after 69 years old for women. The estimated period and cohort RRs were found to show similar monotonic downward patterns (significantly with p < 0.01 for all) for both sexes, with more quickly decreasing for women than for men during the whole period. The decreasing trend of suicide was likely to be related to the economic rapid growth, improvements in health care, enhancement on the level of education, and increasing awareness of suicide among the public in China. In addition, fast urbanization and the effective control of pesticides and rodenticides might be the special reasons behind these trends we observed in this study. PMID:27527195

OBJECTIVES: Smoking prevalence among Korean men in their thirties is substantially high (approximately 50%). An in-depth analysis of smoking trends among young adults in their twenties is necessary to devise antismoking policies for the next 10 years. This study aimed to identify the contributions of age, period, and birth cohort effects on smoking prevalence in young adults. METHODS: Subjects comprised 181,136 adults (83,947 men: 46.3%; 97,189 women: 53.7%) aged 19 to 30 years from the 2008-2013 Korea Community Health Survey. Smoking prevalence adjusted with reference to the 2008 population was applied to the age-period-cohort (APC) model to identify the independent effects of each factor. RESULTS: For men, smoking prevalence rapidly escalated among subjects aged 19 to 22 years and slowed down among those aged 23 to 30 years, declined during 2008 to 2010 but stabilized during 2011 to 2013, and declined in birth cohorts prior to 1988 but stabilized in subjects born after 1988. However, in APC models, smoking prevalence increased with age in the 1988 to 1991 birth cohort. In this birth cohort, smoking prevalence at age 19 to 20 years was approximately 24% but increased to 40% when the subjects turned 23 to 24 years. For women, smoking prevalence was too low to generate consistent results. CONCLUSIONS: Over the past six years and in recent birth cohorts, smoking prevalence in adults aged 19 to 30 years has declined and is stable. Smoking prevalence should be more closely followed as it remains susceptible to an increase depending on antismoking policies or social conditions. PMID:27197740

Social scientists have recognized the importance of age-period-cohort (APC) models for half a century, but have spent much of this time mired in debates about the feasibility of APC methods. Recently, a new class of APC methods based on modern statistical knowledge has emerged, offering potential solutions. In 2009, Reither, Hauser and Yang used one of these new methods – hierarchical APC (HAPC) modeling – to study how birth cohorts may have contributed to the U.S. obesity epidemic. They found that recent birth cohorts experience higher odds of obesity than their predecessors, but that ubiquitous period-based changes are primarily responsible for the rising prevalence of obesity. Although these findings have been replicated elsewhere, recent commentaries by Bell and Jones call them into question – along with the new class of APC methods. Specifically, Bell and Jones claim that new APC methods do not adequately address model identification and suggest that “solid theory” is often sufficient to remove one of the three temporal dimensions from empirical consideration. They also present a series of simulation models that purportedly show how the HAPC models estimated by Reither et al. (2009) could have produced misleading results. However, these simulation models rest on assumptions that there were no period effects, and associations between period and cohort variables and the outcome were perfectly linear. Those are conditions under which APC models should never be used. Under more tenable assumptions, our own simulations show that HAPC methods perform well, both in recovering the main findings presented by Reither et al. (2009) and the results reported by Bell and Jones. We also respond to critiques about model identification and theoretically-imposed constraints, finding little pragmatic support for such arguments. We conclude by encouraging social scientists to move beyond the debates of the 1970s and toward a deeper appreciation for modern APC

Previously, Reither et al. (2015) demonstrated that hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) models perform well when basic assumptions are satisfied. To contest this finding, Bell and Jones (2015) invent a data generating process (DGP) that borrows age, period and cohort effects from different equations in Reither et al. (2015). When HAPC models applied to data simulated from this DGP fail to recover the patterning of APC effects, B&J reiterate their view that these models provide "misleading evidence dressed up as science." Despite such strong words, B&J show no curiosity about their own simulated data--and therefore once again misapply HAPC models to data that violate important assumptions. In this response, we illustrate how a careful analyst could have used simple descriptive plots and model selection statistics to verify that (a) period effects are not present in these data, and (b) age and cohort effects are conflated. By accounting for the characteristics of B&J's artificial data structure, we successfully recover the "true" DGP through an appropriately specified model. We conclude that B&Js main contribution to science is to remind analysts that APC models will fail in the presence of exact algebraic effects (i.e., effects with no random/stochastic components), and when collinear temporal dimensions are included without taking special care in the modeling process. The expanded list of coauthors on this commentary represents an emerging consensus among APC scholars that B&J's essential strategy--testing HAPC models with data simulated from contrived DGPs that violate important assumptions--is not a productive way to advance the discussion about innovative APC methods in epidemiology and the social sciences. PMID:26277370

A compartment model for cancer incidence and mortality is developed in which healthy subjects may develop cancer, and subsequently die of cancer or another cause. In order to adequately represent the experience of a defined population, it is also necessary to allow for subjects who are diagnosed at death, as well as subjects who migrate and are subsequently lost to follow-up. Expressions are derived for the number of cancer deaths as a function of the number of incidence cases and vice versa, which allows for the use of mortality statistics to obtain estimates of incidence using survival information. In addition, the model can be used to obtain estimates of cancer prevalence, which is useful for health care planning. The method is illustrated using data on lung cancer among males in Connecticut. PMID:25715831

Beginning in the mid-1980s and extending into the early 1990s, the United States experienced a wave of increased youth violence and teenage pregnancy. Nevin (2000) proffers a cohort-based explanation that these trends can be attributed to corresponding trends in gasoline lead exposure during the youths' early years. He contends that the increased consumption of adversely impacted their intelligence levels (IQs). This decreased their intellectual ability, resulted in poor decisions made during their teen and young adult years, and in turn, led to disproportionally high level of criminal involvement and unwed pregnancies among this cohort. The present study evaluates Nevin's causal model by testing the connection between trends in lead exposure and youthful problem behavior with age-period-cohort-characteristic (APCC) models. Our research finds no support for this cohort explanation. PMID:15216841

This study aimed to describe past time trends of the prevalence of former smokers in Italy and to estimate prevalence projections using a Bayesian approach. An age-period-cohort (APC) analysis has been carried out in order to investigate the effect of the age, period and birth cohort on the prevalence of former smokers during 1980-2009. A Bayesian APC model with an autoregressive structure for the age, period and cohort parameters has been used to estimate future trends. Results showed that awareness of harm from smoking occurred at younger ages with each advancing cohort, and that women were more likely to attempt to stop smoking during pregnancies and breastfeeding, whereas men attempted to quit only when smoking-related diseases became evident. Projections of future trend recorded a further increase in the number of former smokers in future decades, showing an estimate of the "end of smoking" around years 2060 and 2055 in men and women, respectively. The application of the APC analysis to study the prevalence of former smokers turned out to be a useful method for the evaluation of past smoking trends, reflecting the effects of tobacco control policies on time and generations, and to make projections of future trend. PMID:24452251

In this paper we argue that quantitative survey-based social research essentializes age, through specific rhetorical tools. We outline the device of 'socio-demographic variables' and we discuss its argumentative functions, looking at scientific survey-based analyses of adult scientific literacy, in the Public Understanding of Science research field. 'Socio-demographics' are virtually omnipresent in survey literature: they are, as a rule, used and discussed as bundles of independent variables, requiring little, if any, theoretical and measurement attention. 'Socio-demographics' are rhetorically effective through their common-sense richness of meaning and inferential power. We identify their main argumentation functions as 'structure building', 'pacification', and 'purification'. Socio-demographics are used to uphold causal vocabularies, supporting the transmutation of the descriptive statistical jargon of 'effects' and 'explained variance' into 'explanatory factors'. Age can also be studied statistically as a main variable of interest, through the age-period-cohort (APC) disambiguation technique. While this approach has generated interesting findings, it did not mitigate the reductionism that appears when treating age as a socio-demographic variable. By working with age as a 'socio-demographic variable', quantitative researchers convert it (inadvertently) into a quasi-biological feature, symmetrical, as regards analytical treatment, with pathogens in epidemiological research. PMID:26568224

OBJECTIVE To investigate age-period-cohort effects on the temporal trend of type 1 diabetes in children age 0–14 years in Italian registries. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This report is based on 5,180 incident cases in the period 1990–2003 from the Registry for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Italy (RIDI). Multilevel (random intercept) Poisson regression models were used to model the effects of sex, age, calendar time, and birth cohorts on temporal trends, taking into account the registry-level variance component. RESULTS The incidence rate was 12.26 per 100,000 person-years and significantly higher in boys (13.13 [95% CI 12.66–13.62]) than in girls (11.35 [10.90–11.82]). Large geographical variations in incidence within Italy were evident; incidence was highest in Sardinia, intermediate in Central-Southern Italy, and high in Northern Italy, particularly in the Trento Province, where the incidence rate was 18.67 per 100,000 person-years. An increasing temporal trend was evident (2.94% per year [95% CI 2.22–3.67]). With respect to the calendar period 1990–1992, the incidence rates increased linearly by 15, 27, 35, and 40% in the following time periods (P for trend < 0.001). With respect to the 1987–1993 birth cohort, the incidence rate ratio increased approximately linearly from 0.63 (95% CI 0.54–0.73) in the 1975–1981 cohort to 1.38 (1.06–1.80) in the 1999–2003 cohort. The best model, however, included sex, age, and a linear time trend (drift). CONCLUSIONS Large geographical variations and an increasing temporal trend in diabetes incidence are evident among type 1 diabetic children in Italy. Age-period-cohort analysis shows that the variation over time has a linear component that cannot be ascribed to either the calendar period or the birth cohort. PMID:20566665

The current paper describes the age, period and cohort effects on breast cancer mortality in Taiwan. Female breast cancer mortality data were collected from the Taiwan death registries for 1971-2010. The annual percentage changes, age- standardised mortality rates (ASMR) and age-period-cohort model were calculated. The mortality rates increased with advancing age groups when fixing the period. The percentage change in the breast cancer mortality rate increased from 54.79% at aged 20-44 years, to 149.78% in those aged 45-64 years (between 1971-75 and 2006-10). The mortality rates in the 45-64 age group increased steadily from 1971 to 1975 and 2006-10. The 1951 birth cohorts (actual birth cohort; 1947-55) showed peak mortalities in both the 50-54 and 45-49 age groups. We found that the 1951 birth cohorts had the greatest mortality risk from breast cancer. This might be attributed to the DDT that was used in large amounts to prevent deaths from malaria in Taiwan. However, future researches require DDT data to evaluate the association between breast cancer and DDT use. PMID:25020211

Background The objective of this study was to examine long-term trends in rates of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality, a leading cause of mortality in Hungary. The study examined the effects of age, period, and cohort on IHD mortality rates and compared mortality rates between the capital (Budapest) and non-capital counties. Methods Data on IHD deaths and population censuses were obtained from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. Age-period-cohort analysis utilized nine age-group classes for ages 40 to 84 years, eight time periods from 1970 to 2009, and 16 birth cohorts from 1886 to 1969. Results Age-adjusted IHD mortality rates for men and for women generally increased from 1970 to 1993 and from 1980 to 1999, respectively, decreasing thereafter for both sexes. IHD mortality rates for men and for women from Budapest were lower from 1991 and from 1970, respectively, than corresponding rates in non-capital counties, with the difference increasing after 1999. Age had a more significant influence on mortality rates for women than for men. The period effect increased from 1972 to 1982 and decreased thereafter for men, while the period effect decreased consistently for women from 1972 to 2007. The decline in period effect for both sexes was larger for individuals from the capital than for those from non-capital counties. The cohort effect for both sexes declined from birth years 1890 to 1965, with a steeper decline for individuals from the capital than for those from non-capital counties. Conclusions The findings indicate a need for programs in Hungary for IHD prevention, especially for non-capital counties. PMID:25986153

Background Studies have shown that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection increased during the past decades in China. However, little evidence is available on when, where, and who were infected with HCV. There are gaps in knowledge on the epidemiological burden and evolution of the HCV epidemic in China. Methods Data on HCV cases were collected by the disease surveillance system from 2005 to 2012 to explore the epidemic in Henan province. Spatiotemporal scan statistics and age-period-cohort (APC) model were used to examine the effects of age, period, birth cohort, and spatiotemporal clustering. Results 177,171 HCV cases were reported in Henan province between 2005 and 2012. APC modelling showed that the HCV reported rates significantly increased in people aged > 50 years. A moderate increase in HCV reported rates was observed for females aged about 25 years. HCV reported rates increased over the study period. Infection rates were greatest among people born between 1960 and 1980. People born around 1970 had the highest relative risk of HCV infection. Women born between 1960 and 1980 had a five-fold increase in HCV infection rates compared to men, for the same birth cohort. Spatiotemporal mapping showed major clustering of cases in northern Henan, which probably evolved much earlier than other areas in the province. Conclusions Spatiotemporal mapping and APC methods are useful to help delineate the evolution of the HCV epidemic. Birth cohort should be part of the criteria screening programmes for HCV in order to identify those at highest risk of infection and unaware of their status. As Henan is unique in the transmission route for HCV, these methods should be used in other high burden provinces to help identify subpopulations at risk. PMID:26075599

Background The incorporation of diagnostic and therapeutic improvements, as well as the different smoking patterns, may have had an influence on the observed variability in renal cancer mortality across Europe. This study examined time trends in kidney cancer mortality in fourteen European countries during the last two decades of the 20th century. Methods Kidney cancer deaths and population estimates for each country during the period 1981–2000 were drawn from the World Health Organization Mortality Database. Age- and period-adjusted mortality rates, as well as annual percentage changes in age-adjusted mortality rates, were calculated for each country and geographical region. Log-linear Poisson models were also fitted to study the effect of age, death period, and birth cohort on kidney cancer mortality rates within each country. Results For men, the overall standardized kidney cancer mortality rates in the eastern, western, and northern European countries were 20, 25, and 53% higher than those for the southern European countries, respectively. However, age-adjusted mortality rates showed a significant annual decrease of -0.7% in the north of Europe, a moderate rise of 0.7% in the west, and substantial increases of 1.4% in the south and 2.0% in the east. This trend was similar among women, but with lower mortality rates. Age-period-cohort models showed three different birth-cohort patterns for both men and women: a decrease in mortality trend for those generations born after 1920 in the Nordic countries, a similar but lagged decline for cohorts born after 1930 in western and southern European countries, and a continuous increase throughout all birth cohorts in eastern Europe. Similar but more heterogeneous regional patterns were observed for period effects. Conclusion Kidney cancer mortality trends in Europe showed a clear north-south pattern, with high rates on a downward trend in the north, intermediate rates on a more marked rising trend in the east than in the

To delineate the temporal dynamics between alcohol tax policy changes and related health outcomes, this study examined the age, period and cohort effects on alcohol-related mortality in relation to changes in government alcohol policies. We used the age-period-cohort modeling to analyze retrospective mortality data over 30 years from 1981 to 2010 in a rapidly developed Chinese population, Hong Kong. Alcohol-related mortality from 1) chronic causes, 2) acute causes, 3) all (chronic+acute) causes and 4) causes 100% attributable to alcohol, as defined according to the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) criteria developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were examined. The findings illustrated the possible effects of alcohol policy changes on adult alcohol-related mortality. The age-standardized mortality trends were generally in decline, with fluctuations that coincided with the timing of the alcohol policy changes. The age-period-cohort analyses demonstrated possible temporal dynamics between alcohol policy changes and alcohol-related mortality through the period effects, and also generational impact of alcohol policy changes through the cohort effects. Based on the illustrated association between the dramatic increase of alcohol imports in the mid-1980s and the increased alcohol-related mortality risk of the generations coming of age of majority at that time, attention should be paid to generations coming of drinking age during the 2007–2008 duty reduction. PMID:25153324

Birth cohort effects in suicide rates are well established, but to date there is no methodological approach or framework to test the temporal stability of these effects. We use the APC-Detrended (APCD) model to robustly estimate intensity of cohort effects identifying non-linear trends (or ‘detrended’ fluctuations) in suicide rates. The new APC-Hysteresis (APCH) model tests temporal stability of cohort effects. Analysing suicide rates in 25 WHO countries (periods 1970–74 to 2005–09; ages 20–24 to 70–79) with the APCD method, we find that country-specific birth cohort membership plays an important role in suicide rates. Among 25 countries, we detect 12 nations that show deep contrasts among cohort-specific suicide rates including Italy, Australia and the United States. The APCH method shows that cohort fluctuations are not stable across the life course but decline in Spain, France and Australia, whereas they remain stable in Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. We discuss the Spanish case with elevated suicide mortality of cohorts born 1965–1975 which declines with age, and the opposite case of the United States, where the identified cohort effects of those born around 1960 increase smoothly, but statistically significant across the life course. PMID:27442027

Birth cohort effects in suicide rates are well established, but to date there is no methodological approach or framework to test the temporal stability of these effects. We use the APC-Detrended (APCD) model to robustly estimate intensity of cohort effects identifying non-linear trends (or 'detrended' fluctuations) in suicide rates. The new APC-Hysteresis (APCH) model tests temporal stability of cohort effects. Analysing suicide rates in 25 WHO countries (periods 1970-74 to 2005-09; ages 20-24 to 70-79) with the APCD method, we find that country-specific birth cohort membership plays an important role in suicide rates. Among 25 countries, we detect 12 nations that show deep contrasts among cohort-specific suicide rates including Italy, Australia and the United States. The APCH method shows that cohort fluctuations are not stable across the life course but decline in Spain, France and Australia, whereas they remain stable in Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. We discuss the Spanish case with elevated suicide mortality of cohorts born 1965-1975 which declines with age, and the opposite case of the United States, where the identified cohort effects of those born around 1960 increase smoothly, but statistically significant across the life course. PMID:27442027

In recently developed hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) models, inferential questions arise: How can one assess or judge the significance of estimates of individual cohort and period effects in such models? And how does one assess the overall statistical significance of the cohort and/or the period effects? Beyond statistical significance is the question of substantive significance. This paper addresses these questions. In the context of empirical applications of linear and generalized linear mixed-model specifications of HAPC models using data on verbal test scores and voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections, respectively, we describe a two-step approach and a set of guidelines for assessing statistical significance. The guidelines include assessments of patterns of effects and statistical tests both for the effects of individual cohorts and time periods as well as for entire sets of cohorts and periods. The empirical applications show strong evidence that trends in verbal test scores are primarily cohort driven, while voter turnout is primarily a period phenomenon. PMID:25392566

In recently developed hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) models, inferential questions arise: How can one assess or judge the significance of estimates of individual cohort and period effects in such models? And how does one assess the overall statistical significance of the cohort and/or the period effects? Beyond statistical significance is the question of substantive significance. This paper addresses these questions. In the context of empirical applications of linear and generalized linear mixed-model specifications of HAPC models using data on verbal test scores and voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections, respectively, we describe a two-step approach and a set of guidelines for assessing statistical significance. The guidelines include assessments of patterns of effects and statistical tests both for the effects of individual cohorts and time periods as well as for entire sets of cohorts and periods. The empirical applications show strong evidence that trends in verbal test scores are primarily cohort driven, while voter turnout is primarily a period phenomenon. PMID:25392566

Italy was the second main asbestos producer in Europe, after the Soviet Union, until the end of the 1980s, and raw asbestos was imported on a large scale until 1992. The Italian pattern of asbestos consumption lags on average about 10 years behind the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries. Measures to reduce exposure were introduced in the mid-1970s in some workplaces. In 1986, limitations were imposed on the use of crocidolite and in 1992 asbestos was definitively banned. We have used primary pleural cancer mortality figures (1970-1999) to predict mortality from mesothelioma among Italian men in the next 30 years by age-cohort-period models and by a model based on asbestos consumption figures. The pleural cancer/mesothelioma ratio and mesothelioma misdiagnosis in the past were taken into account in the analysis. Estimated risks of birth cohorts born after 1945 decrease less quickly in Italy than in other Western countries. The findings predict a peak with about 800 mesothelioma annual deaths in the period 2012-2024. Results estimated using age-period-cohort models were similar to those obtained from the asbestos consumption model. PMID:15645436

To describe the temporal trends of breast cancer mortality in East Asia and to better understand the causes of these trends, we analyzed the independent effects of chronological age, time period and birth cohort on breast cancer mortality trends using age-period-cohort (APC) analysis. We chose three main countries in East Asia, namely China, South Korea, and Japan, which have reported death status to the WHO Mortality Database, and used the United States as a comparison population. Our study shows that in general, breast cancer mortality rates in females increased in all three East Asian countries throughout the study period. By APC analysis, we confirmed that there is, in fact, a difference in age-specific mortality rate patterns between the Eastern and the Western countries, which is presumably caused by the two-disease model. While the cause of the decrease from approximately the 1950s generation is still in question, we believe that increasing general awareness and improvements in the health-care system have made a significant contribution to it. Although the age and cohort effects are relatively strong, the period effect may be a more critical factor in the mortality trend, mainly reflecting the increase in exposures to carcinogens and behavioral risk factors. PMID:26690183

Introduction This study aimed to assess the trends in tooth loss among adults with and without diabetes mellitus in the United States and racial/ethnic disparities in tooth loss patterns, and to evaluate trends in tooth loss by age, birth cohorts, and survey periods. Methods Data came from 9 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1971 through 2012. The trends in the estimated tooth loss in people with and without diabetes were assessed by age groups, survey periods, and birth cohorts. The analytical sample was 37,609 dentate (ie, with at least 1 permanent tooth) adults aged 25 years or older. We applied hierarchical age-period-cohort cross-classified random-effects models for the trend analysis. Results The estimated number of teeth lost among non-Hispanic blacks with diabetes increased more with age than that among non-Hispanic whites with diabetes (z = 4.05, P < .001) or Mexican Americans with diabetes (z = 4.38, P < .001). During 1971–2012, there was a significant decreasing trend in the number of teeth lost among non-Hispanic whites with diabetes (slope = −0.20, P < .001) and non-Hispanic blacks with diabetes (slope = −0.37, P < .001). However, adults with diabetes had about twice the tooth loss as did those without diabetes. Conclusion Substantial differences in tooth loss between adults with and without diabetes and across racial/ethnic groups persisted over time. Appropriate dental care and tooth retention need to be further promoted among adults with diabetes. PMID:26632952

Background The impact of screening mammography on breast cancer incidence is difficult to disentangle from cohort- and age-related effects on incidence. Methods We developed an age-period-cohort model of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive breast cancer incidence in U.S. females using cancer registry data. Five functions were included in the model to estimate stage-specific effects for age, premenopausal birth cohorts, postmenopausal birth cohorts, period (for all years of diagnosis), and a mammography period effect limited to women aged ≥40 years after 1982. Incidence with and without the mammography period effect was calculated. Results More recent birth cohorts have elevated underlying risk compared to earlier cohorts for both pre- and postmenopausal women. Comparing models with and without the mammography period effect showed that overall breast cancer incidence would have been 23.1% lower in the absence of mammography in 2010 (95% CI 18.8, 27.4), including 14.7% (9.5, 19.3) lower for invasive breast cancer and 54.5% (47.4, 59.6) lower for DCIS. Incidence of distant-staged breast cancer in 2010 would have been 29.0% (13.1, 48.1) greater in the absence of mammography screening. Conclusions Mammography contributes to markedly elevated rates of DCIS and early stage invasive cancers, but also contributes to substantial reductions in the incidence of metastatic breast cancer. Impact Mammography is an important tool for reducing the burden of breast cancer, but future work is needed to identify risk factors accounting for increasing underlying incidence and to distinguish between indolent and potentially lethal early stage breast cancers that are detected via mammography. PMID:25787716

In this paper we study three different functional approaches to classical thermal field theory, which turn out to be the classical counterparts of three well-known different formulations of quantum thermal field theory: the closed-time path (CTP) formalism, the thermofield dynamics (TFD) and the Matsubara approach.

Focusing on seven classics of literature that are most challenging for teachers and students, but which are also a part of the high school literary canon, this book shares ways to create a learner-centered classroom for the study of literature. For each of the seven classics, the book "walks teachers through" the teaching-learning process,…

A classical formulation of the quantum multichromophoric theory of resonance energy transfer is developed on the basis of classical electrodynamics. The theory allows for the identification of a variety of processes of different order in the interactions that contribute to the energy transfer in molecular aggregates with intracoupling in donors and acceptor chromophores. Enhanced rates in multichromophoric resonance energy transfer are shown to be well described by this theory. Specifically, in a coupling configuration between NA acceptors and ND donors, the theory correctly predicts an enhancement of the energy transfer rate dependent on the total number of donor-acceptor pairs. As an example, the theory, applied to the transfer rate in light harvesting II, gives results in excellent agreement with experiment. Finally, it is explicitly shown that as long as linear response theory holds, the classical multichromophoric theory formally coincides with the quantum formulation.

A classical formulation of the quantum multichromophoric theory of resonance energy transfer is developed on the basis of classical electrodynamics. The theory allows for the identification of a variety of processes of different order in the interactions that contribute to the energy transfer in molecular aggregates with intracoupling in donors and acceptor chromophores. Enhanced rates in multichromophoric resonance energy transfer are shown to be well described by this theory. Specifically, in a coupling configuration between N_{A} acceptors and N_{D} donors, the theory correctly predicts an enhancement of the energy transfer rate dependent on the total number of donor-acceptor pairs. As an example, the theory, applied to the transfer rate in light harvesting II, gives results in excellent agreement with experiment. Finally, it is explicitly shown that as long as linear response theory holds, the classical multichromophoric theory formally coincides with the quantum formulation. PMID:26406811

Describes a one-dimensional model for an ideal gas to study development of disordered motion in Newtonian mechanics. A Monte Carlo procedure for simulation of the statistical ensemble of an ideal gas with fixed total energy is developed. Compares both approaches for a pseudoexperimental foundation of statistical mechanics. (Author/JN)

This four-part report of the 1971-72 Classical Association of the Atlantic States Working Committee deals with the rationale for new approaches and curriculums for schools and colleges. Implications of the new approaches in teacher education are also teated. The major section treating new model curriculums and approaches includes discussion of:…

This article adopts "citation approach" to distinguish interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research (IDR) from monodisciplinary research and begins to descrie how IDR differs from other research. Ten-year citation histories were constructed for sample of 1981 "citation classics" (over-cited articles) and examined for suspected IDR content…

We have structured an upper-level undergraduate course in organometallic chemistry on a selection of "classic" publications in the field. This approach offers students a richly contextual introduction to many of the fundamental tenets of the discipline. After a brief introduction to the field led by the faculty, the students themselves are…

We analyze classical dimer models on a square and a triangular lattice using a tensor network representation of the dimers. The correlation functions are numerically calculated using the recently developed "tensor renormalization group" (TRG) technique. The partition function for the dimer problem can be calculated exactly by the Pfaffian method, which is used here as a platform for comparing the numerical results. The TRG approach turns out to be a powerful tool for describing gapped systems with exponentially decaying correlations very efficiently due to its fast convergence. This is the case for the dimer model on the triangular lattice. However, the convergence becomes very slow and unstable in the case of the square lattice where the model has algebraically decaying correlations. We highlight these aspects with numerical simulations and critically appraise the robustness of the TRG approach by contrasting the results for small and large system sizes against the exact calculations. Furthermore, we benchmark our TRG results with the classical Monte Carlo method.

Previously, an extended approach of equilibrium classical fluctuation theory was developed compatible with the existence of anomalous response functions, e.g. states with negative heat capacities. Now, the geometric aspects associated with this new framework are analyzed. The analysis starts from the so-called reparametrization invariance: a special symmetry of distribution functions dp (I|θ) employed in classical equilibrium statistical mechanics that allows us to express the thermo-statistical relations in the same mathematical appearance in different coordinate representations. The existence of reparametrization invariance can be related to three different geometric frameworks: (1) a non-Riemannian formulation for classical fluctuation theory based on the concept of reparametrization dualities; (2) a Riemannian formulation defined on the manifold {P} of control parameters θ, where the main theorems of inference theory appear as dual counterparts of general fluctuation theorems, and Boltzmann-Gibbs distributions ωBG(I|θ) = exp(-θiIi)/Z(θ) admit a geometric generalization; and finally, (3) a Riemannian formulation defined on the manifold {M}_{\\theta } of macroscopic observables I, which appears as a counterpart approach of inference geometry.

As is known to all, the electron scattering in classical electromagnetic potential is one of the most widespread applications of quantum theory. Nevertheless, many discussions about electron scattering are based upon single-particle Schrodinger equation or Dirac equation in quantum mechanics rather than the method of quantum field theory. In this paper, by using the path integral approach of quantum field theory, we perturbatively evaluate the scattering amplitude up to the second order for the electron scattering by the classical electromagnetic potential. The results we derive are convenient to apply to all sorts of potential forms. Furthermore, by means of the obtained results, we give explicit calculations for the one-dimensional electric potential. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11374360, 11405266, and 11505285) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CBA01504).

Beatrice A. Wright's (1960) classic book, Physical Disability: A Psychological Approach is a landmark publication in rehabilitation psychology. The authors believe that Division 22's forthcoming 50th anniversary, the results of a recent survey on essential readings in rehabilitation psychology, and a public critique concerning the relevance of individuating language in psychology are compelling reasons for revisiting the influence of Physical Disability. After discussing these catalysts, the authors review the book's history, scholarly impact, and link to positive disciplinary directions. The authors conclude by encouraging rehabilitation psychologists and other members of the discipline to (re)acquaint themselves with this important book and the timeless concepts it espouses. PMID:19079791

Context: Viral hepatitis diagnosis is an important issue in the treatment procedure of this infection. Late diagnosis and delayed treatment of viral hepatitis infections can lead to irreversible liver damages and occurrence of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A variety of laboratory methods including old and new technologies are being applied to detect hepatitis viruses. Here we have tried to review, categorize, compare and illustrate the classical and modern approaches used for diagnosis of viral hepatitis. Evidence Acquisition: In order to achieve a comprehensive aspect in viral hepatitis detection methods, an extensive search using related keywords was done in major medical library and data were collected, categorized and summarized in different sections. Results: Analyzing of collected data resulted in the wrapping up the hepatitis virus detection methods in separate sections including 1) immunological methods such as enzyme immunoassay (EIA), radio-immunoassay (RIA) immuno-chromatographic assay (ICA), and immuno-chemiluminescence 2) molecular approaches including non-amplification and amplification based methods, and finally 3) advanced biosensors such as mass-sensitive, electrical, electrochemical and optical based biosensors and also new generation of detection methods. Conclusions: Detection procedures in the clinical laboratories possess a large diversity; each has their individual advantages and facilities' differences. PMID:24829586

How to read the Confucian Classics today? Scholars with philosophical training usually emphasize that the philosophical approach, in comparison with the classicist and historical ones, is the best way to read the Confucian Classics, for it can dig out as much intellectual resources as possible from the classical texts in order to show their modern…

As a Certified Laban Movement Analyst and a classically trained ballet dancer, I consistently weave the Laban Movement Analysis/Bartenieff Fundamentals (LMA/BF) theories and philosophies into the ballet class. This integration assists in: (1) Identifying the qualitative movement elements both in the art of ballet and in the students' dancing…

The decomposition of representations of compact classical Lie groups into representations of finite subgroups is discussed. A MATHEMATICA package is presented that can be used to compute these branching rules using the Weyl character formula. For some low order finite groups including A4 and Δ (27) general analytical formulas are presented for the branching rules of arbitrary representations of their smallest Lie super-groups.

The aim of this paper is to propose a synthetic approach to the transfer matrix method in classical and quantum physics. This method is an efficient tool to deal with complicated physical systems of practical importance in geometrical light or charged particle optics, classical electronics, mechanics, electromagnetics and quantum physics. Teaching…

The existing parsing methods of scattered context grammar usually expand nonterminals deeply in the pushdown. This expansion is implemented by using either a linked list, or some kind of an auxiliary pushdown. This paper describes the parsing algorithm of an LL(1) scattered context grammar. The given algorithm merges two principles together. The first approach is a table-driven parsing method commonly used for parsing of the context-free grammars. The second is a delayed execution used in functional programming. The main part of this paper is a proof of equivalence between the common principle (the whole rule is applied at once) and our approach (execution of the rules is delayed). Therefore, this approach works with the pushdown top only. In the most cases, the second approach is faster than the first one. Finally, the future work is discussed.

Graphene outstanding properties created a huge interest in the condensed matter community and unprecedented fundings at the international scale in the hope of application developments. Recently, there have been several reports of incomplete removal of the polymer resists used to transfer as-grown graphene from one substrate to another, resulting in altered graphene transport properties. Finding a large-scale solution to clean graphene from adsorbed residues is highly desirable and one promising possibility would be to use hydrogen plasmas. In this spirit, we couple here quantum and classical molecular dynamics simulations to explore the kinetic energy ranges required by atomic hydrogen to selectively etch a simple residue—a CH3 group—without irreversibly damaging the graphene. For incident energies in the 2-15 eV range, the CH3 radical can be etched by forming a volatile CH4 compound which leaves the surface, either in the CH4 form or breaking into CH3 + H fragments, without further defect formation. At this energy, adsorption of H atoms on graphene is possible and further annealing will be required to recover pristine graphene.

For nearly 30 years, mode-coupling theory (MCT) has been regarded as the de facto theoretic description of dense fluids and the transition from the fluid to glassy state. But MCT is limited by its ad hoc construction and lacks a mechanism to institute corrections. We present a new fundamental theory for the kinetics of systems of classical particles which represents a unification of kinetic theory, Brownian motion and field theory. It is developed from first principles via a self-consistent perturbation in terms of an effective two-body potential, and we use this theory to investigate the existence of ergodic-nonergodic (ENE) transitions near the liquid-glass transition. After a brief introduction of the theory, we will address the development of a kinetic equation of the memory function form. The memory function kernel (or self-energy) determined by the theory shares properties with the MCT form, however our theory provides the crucial advantage of well-defined, perturbative corrections.

Recent interest in modeling biochemical networks raises questions about the relationship between often complex mathematical models and familiar arithmetic concepts from classical enzymology, and also about connections between modeling and experimental data. This review addresses both topics by familiarizing readers with key concepts (and terminology) in the construction, validation, and application of deterministic biochemical models, with particular emphasis on a simple enzyme-catalyzed reaction. Networks of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are the natural language for describing enzyme kinetics in a mass action approximation. We illustrate this point by showing how the familiar Briggs-Haldane formulation of Michaelis-Menten kinetics derives from the outer (or quasi-steady-state) solution of a dynamical system of ODEs describing a simple reaction under special conditions. We discuss how parameters in the Michaelis-Menten approximation and in the underlying ODE network can be estimated from experimental data, with a special emphasis on the origins of uncertainty. Finally, we extrapolate from a simple reaction to complex models of multiprotein biochemical networks. The concepts described in this review, hitherto of interest primarily to practitioners, are likely to become important for a much broader community of cellular and molecular biologists attempting to understand the promise and challenges of “systems biology” as applied to biochemical mechanisms. PMID:20810646

In this paper, we present a new view of the PageRank algorithm inspired by multiplex networks. This new approach allows to introduce a new centrality measure for classic complex networks and a new proposal to extend the usual PageRank algorithm to multiplex networks. We give some analytical relations between these new approaches and the classic PageRank centrality measure, and we illustrate the new parameters presented by computing them on real underground networks. PMID:27368791

In this paper, we present a new view of the PageRank algorithm inspired by multiplex networks. This new approach allows to introduce a new centrality measure for classic complex networks and a new proposal to extend the usual PageRank algorithm to multiplex networks. We give some analytical relations between these new approaches and the classic PageRank centrality measure, and we illustrate the new parameters presented by computing them on real underground networks.

Over 100 million individuals are affected by irreversible visual impairments and blindness worldwide, while ocular diseases remain a challenging problem despite significant advances in modern ophthalmology. Development of novel drugs and drug delivery mechanisms, as well as advanced ophthalmological techniques requires experimental models including animals, capable of developing ocular diseases with similar etiology and pathology, suitable for future trials of new therapeutic approaches. Although experimental ophthalmology and visual research are traditionally performed on rodent models, these animals are often unsuitable for pre-clinical drug efficacy and safety studies, as well as for testing novel drug delivery approaches, e.g. controlled release of pharmaceuticals using intra-ocular implants. Therefore, rabbit models of ocular diseases are particularly useful in this context, since rabbits can be easily handled, while sharing more common anatomical and biochemical features with humans compared to rodents, including longer life span and larger eye size. This review provides a brief description of clinical, morphological and mechanistic aspects of the most common ocular diseases (dry eye syndrome, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, light-induced retinopathies, cataract and uveitis) and summarizes the diversity of current strategies for their experimental modeling in rabbits. Several applications of some of these models in ocular pharmacology and eye care strategies are also discussed. PMID:26553163

Bandpass correction in spectrometer measurements using monochromators is often necessary in order to obtain accurate measurement results. The classicalapproach of spectrometer bandpass correction is based on local polynomial approximations and the use of finite differences. Here we compare this approach with an extension of the Richardson-Lucy method, which is well known in image processing, but has not been applied to spectrum bandpass correction yet. Using an extensive simulation study and a practical example, we demonstrate the potential of the Richardson-Lucy method. In contrast to the classicalapproach, it is robust with respect to wavelength step size and measurement noise. In almost all cases the Richardson-Lucy method turns out to be superior to the classicalapproach both in terms of spectrum estimate and its associated uncertainties.

The aim of this paper is to propose a synthetic approach to the transfer matrix method in classical and quantum physics. This method is an efficient tool to deal with complicated physical systems of practical importance in geometrical light or charged particle optics, classical electronics, mechanics, electromagnetics and quantum physics. Teaching would benefit by using the abcd-matrix which in addition is easy to implement on a personal computer.

The paper presents a novel approach to detect and monitor nonradiative transitions in singlet oxygen molecules in water by means of holographic recording of thermal disturbances. The approach is realized experimentally using classical and digital holographic techniques. Advantages and disadvantages of each of the techniques are considered.

We present a novel quantum-classicalapproach to nonadiabatic dynamics, deduced from the coupled electronic and nuclear equations in the framework of the exact factorization of the electron-nuclear wave function. The method is based on the quasiclassical interpretation of the nuclear wave function, whose phase is related to the classical momentum and whose density is represented in terms of classical trajectories. In this approximation, electronic decoherence is naturally induced as an effect of the coupling to the nuclei and correctly reproduces the expected quantum behavior. Moreover, the splitting of the nuclear wave packet is captured as a consequence of the correct approximation of the time-dependent potential of the theory. This new approach offers a clear improvement over Ehrenfest-like dynamics. The theoretical derivation presented in this Letter is supported by numerical results that are compared to quantum mechanical calculations.

We suggest an approach, which formally allows us to describe the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect in the semi-classical language. In the framework of this approach, we keep the classical concepts of electromagnetic field and force. At the same time, instead of point-like classical charges, we introduce a finite-size elementary charge distribution, modelling the wave-like packet, associated with the motion of a given electron. In this case we derive the force on the wave-like packet on behalf of the solenoid via the minimization of action defined through the Lagrangian density (instead of the Lagrangian used in common classical electrodynamics of point-like charges). We show that this force due to the solenoid, being dependent on the vector potential, yields the common expression for the magnetic AB phase, when the original wave packet is splitted into a superposition of two packets encirling the solenoid. We also analyze in the classical language the implementation of total momentum conservation law for the isolated system "moving electrons plus elongated solenoid" and determine the properties of finite-size charge distribution, when this law is fulfilled. The results obtained are discussed.

Without intervention, classic galactosemia is a potentially fatal disorder in infancy. With the benefit of early diagnosis and dietary restriction of galactose, the acute sequelae of classic galactosemia can be prevented or reversed. However, despite early and lifelong dietary treatment, many galactosemic patients go on to experience serious long-term complications including cognitive disability, speech problems, neurological and/or movement disorders and, in girls and women, ovarian dysfunction. Further, there remains uncertainty surrounding what constitutes a ‘best practice’ for treating this disorder. To explore the extent and implications of this uncertainty, we conducted a small but global survey of healthcare providers who follow patients with classic galactosemia, seeking to compare established protocols for diagnosis, intervention, and follow-up, as well as the outcomes and outcome frequencies seen in the patient populations cared for by these providers. We received 13 survey responses representing five continents and 11 countries. Respondents underscored disparities in approaches to diagnosis, management and follow-up care. Notably, we saw no clear relationship between differing approaches to care and long-term outcomes in the populations studied. Negative outcomes occurred in the majority of cases regardless of when treatment was initiated, how tightly galactose intake was restricted, or how closely patients were monitored. We document here what is, to our knowledge, the first global comparison of healthcare approaches to classic galactosemia. These data reinforce the idea that there is currently no one best practice for treating patients with classic galactosemia, and underscore the need for more extensive and statistically powerful comparative studies to reveal potential positive or negative impacts of differing approaches. PMID:22450714

Eukaryotic protein secretion generally occurs via the classical secretory pathway that traverses the ER and Golgi apparatus. Secreted proteins usually contain a signal sequence with all the essential information required to target them for secretion. However, some proteins like fibroblast growth factors (FGF-1, FGF-2), interleukins (IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta), galectins and thioredoxin are exported by an alternative pathway. This is known as leaderless or non-classical secretion and works without a signal sequence. Most computational methods for the identification of secretory proteins use the signal peptide as indicator and are therefore not able to identify substrates of non-classical secretion. In this work, we report a random forest method, SPRED, to identify secretory proteins from protein sequences irrespective of N-terminal signal peptides, thus allowing also correct classification of non-classical secretory proteins. Training was performed on a dataset containing 600 extracellular proteins and 600 cytoplasmic and/or nuclear proteins. The algorithm was tested on 180 extracellular proteins and 1380 cytoplasmic and/or nuclear proteins. We obtained 85.92% accuracy from training and 82.18% accuracy from testing. Since SPRED does not use N-terminal signals, it can detect non-classical secreted proteins by filtering those secreted proteins with an N-terminal signal by using SignalP. SPRED predicted 15 out of 19 experimentally verified non-classical secretory proteins. By scanning the entire human proteome we identified 566 protein sequences potentially undergoing non-classical secretion. The dataset and standalone version of the SPRED software is available at (http://www.inb.uni-luebeck.de/tools-demos/spred/spred).

In this work, we derive a general mixed quantum-classical formula for calculating thermal proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET) rate constants, starting from the time integral of the quantum flux-flux correlation function. This formula allows for the direct simulation of PCET reaction dynamics via the mixed quantum-classical Liouville approach. Owing to the general nature of the derivation, this formula does not rely on any prior mechanistic assumptions and can be applied across a wide range of electronic and protonic coupling regimes. To test the validity of this formula, we applied it to a reduced model of a condensed-phase PCET reaction. Good agreement with the numerically exact rate constant is obtained, demonstrating the accuracy of our formalism. We believe that this approach constitutes a solid foundation for future investigations of the rates and mechanisms of a wide range of PCET reactions. PMID:27232936

An efficient and accurate mixed quantum/classical theory approach for computational treatment of inelastic scattering is extended to describe collision of an atom with a general asymmetric-top rotor polyatomic molecule. Quantum mechanics, employed to describe transitions between the internal states of the molecule, and classical mechanics, employed for description of scattering of the atom, are used in a self-consistent manner. Such calculations for rotational excitation of HCOOCH3 in collisions with He produce accurate results at scattering energies above 15 cm(-1), although resonances near threshold, below 5 cm(-1), cannot be reproduced. Importantly, the method remains computationally affordable at high scattering energies (here up to 1000 cm(-1)), which enables calculations for larger molecules and at higher collision energies than was possible previously with the standard full-quantum approach. Theoretical prediction of inelastic cross sections for a number of complex organic molecules observed in space becomes feasible using this new computational tool. PMID:26263260

A photon spectrum of undulator radiation (UR) is calculated in the semi-classicalapproach. The UR intensity spectrum is determined by an electron trajectory in the undulator neglecting by energy losses for radiation. Using the Planck's law, the UR photon spectrum can be calculated from the classical intensity spectrum both for linear and nonlinear regimes. The radiation of an electron in a field of strong electromagnetic wave (radiation in the "light" undulator) is considered in the quantum electromagnetic frame. Comparison of results obtained by both approaches has been shown that UR spectra in the whole cone coincide with high accuracy for the case x<<1. Characteristics of the collimated UR beam were simulated with taking into account the discrete process of photon emission along an electron trajectory in both kinds of undulators.

In this article, the author describes "Feminist Approaches to the Classics," a course she teaches at Cleveland State University. The goal of this particular course was to situate the context of western indigenous myth in relation to western classical literature and to indicate possible reasons for its reclamation in contemporary American culture.…

New approaches to the teaching of the classics are explored in this collection of articles written by high school, junior college, college, and university literature instructors. The seven articles in the first section of the book discuss linking the classics. Specific topics covered in the articles include using the works of William Golding as a…

The results of active control experiments performed for the Mini-Mast truss structure are presented. The primary research objectives were: (1) to develop active structural control concepts and/or techniques; (2) to verify the concept of robust non-minimum-phase compensation for a certain class of non-colocated structural control problems through ground experiments; (3) to verify a 'dipole' concept for persistent disturbance rejection control of flexible structures; and (4) to identify CSI (Control Structure Interaction) issues and areas of emphasis for the next generation of large flexible spacecraft. The classical SISO (Single Input and Single Output) control design approach was employed.

This paper describes the results of an active structural control experiment performed for the Advanced Control Evaluation for Structures (ACES) testbed at NASA-Marshall as part of the NASA Control-Structure Interaction Guest Investigator Program. The experimental results successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of a 'dipole' concept for line-of-sight control of a pointing system mounted on a flexible structure. The simplicity and effectiveness of a classical 'single-loop-at-a-time' approach for the active structural control design for a complex structure, such as the ACES testbed, are demonstrated.

A personal trait, for example a person's cognitive ability, represents a theoretical concept postulated to explain behavior. Interesting constructs are latent, that is, they cannot be observed. Latent variable modeling constitutes a methodology to deal with hypothetical constructs. Constructs are modeled as random variables and become components of a statistical model. As random variables, they possess a probability distribution in the population of reference. In applications, this distribution is typically assumed to be the normal distribution. The normality assumption may be reasonable in many cases, but there are situations where it cannot be justified. For example, this is true for criterion-referenced tests or for background characteristics of students in large scale assessment studies. Nevertheless, the normal procedures in combination with the classical factor analytic methods are frequently pursued, despite the effects of violating this "implicit" assumption are not clear in general. In a simulation study, we investigate whether classical factor analytic approaches can be instrumental in estimating the factorial structure and properties of the population distribution of a latent personal trait from educational test data, when violations of classical assumptions as the aforementioned are present. The results indicate that having a latent non-normal distribution clearly affects the estimation of the distribution of the factor scores and properties thereof. Thus, when the population distribution of a personal trait is assumed to be non-symmetric, we recommend avoiding those factor analytic approaches for estimation of a person's factor score, even though the number of extracted factors and the estimated loading matrix may not be strongly affected. An application to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is given. Comments on possible implications for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) complete the presentation. PMID

In this chapter, we give an overview of the Graz-BCI research, from the classic motor imagery detection to complex movement intentions decoding. We start by describing the classic motor imagery approach, its application in tetraplegic end users, and the significant improvements achieved using coadaptive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). These strategies have the drawback of not mirroring the way one plans a movement. To achieve a more natural control-and to reduce the training time-the movements decoded by the BCI need to be closely related to the user's intention. Within this natural control, we focus on the kinematic level, where movement direction and hand position or velocity can be decoded from noninvasive recordings. First, we review movement execution decoding studies, where we describe the decoding algorithms, their performance, and associated features. Second, we describe the major findings in movement imagination decoding, where we emphasize the importance of estimating the sources of the discriminative features. Third, we introduce movement target decoding, which could allow the determination of the target without knowing the exact movement-by-movement details. Aside from the kinematic level, we also address the goal level, which contains relevant information on the upcoming action. Focusing on hand-object interaction and action context dependency, we discuss the possible impact of some recent neurophysiological findings in the future of BCI control. Ideally, the goal and the kinematic decoding would allow an appropriate matching of the BCI to the end users' needs, overcoming the limitations of the classic motor imagery approach. PMID:27590965

Transmissibility functions have received renewed interest given the important role they play in operational modal analysis and operational transfer path analysis. However, transmissibilities can also be used in the framework of classical transmission path analysis. This avoids some of the problems associated to the latter, such as the measurement of operational loads, or the need to remove the active parts of the system to measure frequency response functions. The key of the transmissibility approach to classical transfer path analysis relies on the notion of direct or blocked transmissibilities, which can be computed from standard measurable transmissibilities. The response at any degree of freedom to a system external load can then be decomposed in terms of the remaining degrees of freedom responses and the system direct transmissibilities. Although the theory supporting this approach has been known for long, no experimental validation test has been reported to date. It is the purpose of this paper to provide such a test by applying the method to a simple mechanical system for which an analytical solution can be derived. For different configurations, it will be shown that direct transmissibilities computed from measured transmissibilities compare fairly well with analytical results. This opens the door to apply the method to more complex situations of practical interest with confidence.

We develop a classical mapping approach suitable to describe vibrationally coupled charge transport in molecular junctions based on the Cartesian mapping for many-electron systems [B. Li and W. H. Miller, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 154107 (2012)]. To properly describe vibrational quantum effects in the transport characteristics, we introduce a simple transformation rewriting the Hamiltonian in terms of occupation numbers and use a binning function to facilitate quantization. The approach provides accurate results for the nonequilibrium Holstein model for a range of bias voltages, vibrational frequencies, and temperatures. It also captures the hallmarks of vibrational quantum effects apparent in step-like structure in the current-voltage characteristics at low temperatures as well as the phenomenon of Franck-Condon blockade.

Vibrational decoherence of a "breathing sphere" oscillator in a thermal Lennard-Jones bath is examined using a classical analog approach. The equivalence between this approach and the linearized semiclassical initial value representation (IVR) is established and the method is exploited to produce a useful computational strategy that can efficiently evaluate the time dependence of the decoherence in these systems. A comparison between Harmonic and Morse "breathing sphere" models is presented and the rate of decoherence is found to depend on the choice of model, the initial state of the oscillator, the initial conditions of the bath (temperature, density), and the choice of quantity measuring the decoherence rate. The results are used to examine the utility of the Caldeira-Leggett model in this realistic system. PMID:23802961

Linking marine epizootics to a specific aetiology is notoriously difficult. Recent diagnostic successes show that marine disease diagnosis requires both modern, cutting-edge technology (e.g. metagenomics, quantitative real-time PCR) and more classic methods (e.g. transect surveys, histopathology and cell culture). Here, we discuss how this combination of traditional and modern approaches is necessary for rapid and accurate identification of marine diseases, and emphasize how sole reliance on any one technology or technique may lead disease investigations astray. We present diagnostic approaches at different scales, from the macro (environment, community, population and organismal scales) to the micro (tissue, organ, cell and genomic scales). We use disease case studies from a broad range of taxa to illustrate diagnostic successes from combining traditional and modern diagnostic methods. Finally, we recognize the need for increased capacity of centralized databases, networks, data repositories and contingency plans for diagnosis and management of marine disease. PMID:26880839

Linking marine epizootics to a specific aetiology is notoriously difficult. Recent diagnostic successes show that marine disease diagnosis requires both modern, cutting-edge technology (e.g. metagenomics, quantitative real-time PCR) and more classic methods (e.g. transect surveys, histopathology and cell culture). Here, we discuss how this combination of traditional and modern approaches is necessary for rapid and accurate identification of marine diseases, and emphasize how sole reliance on any one technology or technique may lead disease investigations astray. We present diagnostic approaches at different scales, from the macro (environment, community, population and organismal scales) to the micro (tissue, organ, cell and genomic scales). We use disease case studies from a broad range of taxa to illustrate diagnostic successes from combining traditional and modern diagnostic methods. Finally, we recognize the need for increased capacity of centralized databases, networks, data repositories and contingency plans for diagnosis and management of marine disease.

The phylogeny of classical swine fever virus (CSFV), the causative agent of classical swine fever (CSF), has been investigated extensively. However, no evolutionary research has been performed using the whole CSFV genome. In this study, we used 37 published genome sequences to investigate the time-calibrated phylogenomics of CSFV. In phylogenomic trees based on Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum likelihood (ML), the 37 isolates were categorized into five genetic types (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.3, and 3.4). Subgenotype 1.1 is divided into 3 groups and 1 unclassified isolate, 2.1 into 4 groups, 2.3 into 2 groups and 1 unclassified isolate, and subgenotype 1.2 and 3.4 consisted of one isolate each. We did not observe an apparent temporal or geographical relationship between isolates. Of the 14 genomic regions, NS4B showed the most powerful phylogenetic signal. Results of this evolutionary study using Bayesian coalescent approach indicate that CSFV has evolved at a rate of 13×.010-4 substitutions per site per year. The most recent common ancestor of CSFV appeared 2770.2 years ago, which was about 8000 years after pig domestication. The effective population size of CSFV underwent a slow increase until the 1950s, after which it has remained constant. PMID:25815768

We report on a numerical study of real-time dynamics of electromagnetically interacting chirally imbalanced lattice Dirac fermions within the classical statistical field theory approach. Namely, we perform exact simulations of the real-time quantum evolution of fermionic fields coupled to classical electromagnetic fields, which are in turn coupled to the vacuum expectation value of the fermionic electric current. We use Wilson-Dirac Hamiltonian for fermions, and noncompact action for the gauge field. In general, we observe that the backreaction of fermions on the electromagnetic field prevents the system from acquiring chirality imbalance. In the case of chirality pumping in parallel electric and magnetic fields, the electric field is screened by the produced on-shell fermions and the accumulation of chirality is hence stopped. In the case of evolution with initially present chirality imbalance, axial charge tends to transform to helicity of the electromagnetic field. By performing simulations on large lattices we show that in most cases this decay process is accompanied by the inverse cascade phenomenon, which transfers energy from short-wavelength to long-wavelength electromagnetic fields. In some simulations, however, we observe a very clear signature of inverse cascade for the helical magnetic fields that is not accompanied by the axial charge decay. This suggests that the relation between the inverse cascade and axial charge decay is not as straightforward as predicted by the simplest form of anomalous Maxwell equations.

The phylogeny of classical swine fever virus (CSFV), the causative agent of classical swine fever (CSF), has been investigated extensively. However, no evolutionary research has been performed using the whole CSFV genome. In this study, we used 37 published genome sequences to investigate the time-calibrated phylogenomics of CSFV. In phylogenomic trees based on Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum likelihood (ML), the 37 isolates were categorized into five genetic types (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.3, and 3.4). Subgenotype 1.1 is divided into 3 groups and 1 unclassified isolate, 2.1 into 4 groups, 2.3 into 2 groups and 1 unclassified isolate, and subgenotype 1.2 and 3.4 consisted of one isolate each. We did not observe an apparent temporal or geographical relationship between isolates. Of the 14 genomic regions, NS4B showed the most powerful phylogenetic signal. Results of this evolutionary study using Bayesian coalescent approach indicate that CSFV has evolved at a rate of 13×.010-4 substitutions per site per year. The most recent common ancestor of CSFV appeared 2770.2 years ago, which was about 8000 years after pig domestication. The effective population size of CSFV underwent a slow increase until the 1950s, after which it has remained constant. PMID:25815768

Context: The classic posterior approach to superior hypogastric plexus block (SHPB) is sometimes hindered by the iliac crest or a prominent transverse process of L5. The computed tomography (CT) – guided anterior approach might overcome these difficulties. Aims: This prospective, comparative, randomized study was aimed to compare the CT guided anterior approach versus the classic posterior approach. Settings and Design: Controlled randomized study. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 patients with chronic pelvic cancer pain were randomized into either classic or CT groups where classic posterior approach or CT guided anterior approach were done, respectively. Visual analog score, daily analgesic morphine consumed and patient satisfaction were assessed just before the procedure, then, after 24 h, 1 week and monthly for 2 months after the procedure. Duration of the procedure was also recorded. Adverse effects associated with the procedure were closely observed and recorded. Statistical Analysis Used: Student's t-test was used for comparison between groups. Results: Visual analog scale and morphine consumption decreased significantly in both groups at the measured times after the block compared with the baseline in the same group with no significant difference between both groups. The procedure was carried out in significantly shorter duration in the CT group than that in the classic group. The mean patient satisfaction scale increased significantly in both groups at the measured times after the block compared with the baseline in the same group. The patients in the CT groups were significantly more satisfied than those in classic group from day one after the procedure until the end of the study. Conclusions: The CT guided approach for SHPB is easier, faster, safer and more effective, with less side-effects than the classicapproach. PMID:25191191

There exist several phenomena breaking the classical probability laws. The systems related to such phenomena are context-dependent, so that they are adaptive to other systems. In this paper, we present a new mathematical formalism to compute the joint probability distribution for two event-systems by using concepts of the adaptive dynamics and quantum information theory, e.g., quantum channels and liftings. In physics the basic example of the context-dependent phenomena is the famous double-slit experiment. Recently similar examples have been found in biological and psychological sciences. Our approach is an extension of traditional quantum probability theory, and it is general enough to describe aforementioned contextual phenomena outside of quantum physics.

In this review, several recently identified biologically active principles of selected botanical dietary supplement ingredients are described, and were isolated using classical phytochemical chromatographic methods, with various spectroscopic procedures used for their isolation and structure elucidation. A central component of such an approach is "activity-guided fractionation" to monitor the compound purification process. In vitro assays germane to cancer chemoprevention were used to facilitate the work performed. Bioactive compounds, including several new substances, were characterized from açai (Euterpe oleracea), baobab (Adansonia digitata), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), and noni (Morinda citrifolia). Many of these compounds exhibited quite potent biological activity, but tended to be present in their plant of origin only at low concentration levels. PMID:20804827

This study introduces the set-up and characteristics of a meteorological station network on the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The set-up follows a hierarchical approach covering an elevational as well as a land-use disturbance gradient. The network consists of 52 basic stations measuring ambient air temperature and above ground air humidity and 11 precipitation measurement sites. We provide in depth descriptions of various machine learning and classical geo-statistical methods used to fill observation gaps and extend the spatial coverage of the network to a total of 60 research sites. Performance statistics for these methods indicate that the presented data sets provide reliable measurements of the meteorological reality at Mt. Kilimanjaro. These data provide an excellent basis for ecological studies and are also of great value for regional atmospheric numerical modelling studies for which such comprehensive in-situ validation observations are rare, especially in tropical regions of complex terrain.

Quantum manifestation of classical chaos has been one of the extensively studied subjects for more than a decade. Yet clear understanding of its nature still remains to be an open question partly due to the lack of a canonical definition of quantum chaos. The classical definition seems to be unsuitable in quantum mechanics partly because of the Heisenberg quantum uncertainty. In this regard, quantum chaos is somewhat misleading and needs to be clarified at the very fundamental level of physics. Since it is well known that quantum mechanics is more fundamental than classical mechanics, the quantum description of classically chaotic nature should be attainable in the limit of large quantum numbers. The focus of my research, therefore, lies on the correspondence principle for classically chaotic systems. The chaotic damped driven pendulum is mainly studied numerically using the split operator method that solves the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. For classically dissipative chaotic systems in which (multi)fractal strange attractors often emerge, several quantum dissipative mechanisms are also considered. For instance, Hoover`s and Kubo-Fox-Keizer`s approaches are studied with some computational analyses. But the notion of complex energy with non-Hermiticity is extensively applied. Moreover, the Wigner and Husimi distribution functions are examined with an equivalent classical distribution in phase-space, and dynamical properties of the wave packet in configuration and momentum spaces are also explored. The results indicate that quantum dynamics embraces classical dynamics although the classicalquantum correspondence fails to be observed in the classically chaotic regime. Even in the semi-classical limits, classically chaotic phenomena would eventually be suppressed by the quantum uncertainty.

Background Classicalapproaches to predicting patient clinical outcome via gene expression information are primarily based on differential expression of unrelated genes (single-gene approaches) or genes related by, for example, biologic pathway or function (gene-sets). Recently, network-based approaches utilising interaction information between genes have emerged. An open problem is whether such approaches add value to the more traditional methods of signature modelling. We explored this question via comparison of the most widely employed single-gene, gene-set, and network-based methods, using gene expression microarray data from two different cancers: melanoma and ovarian. We considered two kinds of network approaches. The first of these identifies informative genes using gene expression and network connectivity information combined, the latter drawn from prior knowledge of protein-protein interactions. The second approach focuses on identification of informative sub-networks (small networks of interacting proteins, again from prior knowledge networks). For all methods we performed 100 rounds of 5-fold cross-validation under 3 different classifiers. For network-based approaches, we considered two different protein-protein interaction networks. We quantified resulting patterns of misclassification and discussed the relative value of each relative to ongoing development of prognostic biomarkers. Results We found that single-gene, gene-set and network methods yielded similar error rates in melanoma and ovarian cancer data. Crucially, however, our novel and detailed patient-level analyses revealed that the different methods were correctly classifying alternate subsets of patients in each cohort. We also found that the network-based NetRank feature selection method was the most stable. Conclusions Next-generation methods of gene expression signature modelling harness data from external networks and are foreshadowed as a standard mode of analysis. But what do they add

Background A rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity has been reported in France since 1990. We investigated the impact of birth cohort on the changes in obesity prevalence after taking into account age and survey period. Methods We analyzed data from four national surveys in 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. For each survey, self-reported data on weight and height were recorded on mailed questionnaires sent to a sample of 20 000 households, representative of the French population. Obesity was defined according to WHO criteria, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. We modeled the prevalence of obesity using logistic regression with age, cohort and period as explanatory variables. As these variables are linearly dependent, only nonlinear effects can be estimated uniquely and interpreted, after including specific chosen constraints in the models. Results There was a progressive increase in the prevalence of obesity between 1997 and 2006, attributable either to a period or to a cohort effect. There was a substantial departure from a linear trend for the cohort effect only, which appeared to be stronger in women: there was an acceleration in the prevalence of obesity with birth cohort for individuals born after the mid-1960s, in both sexes. Conclusions Our results are consistent with previous studies in other countries. Compared with older generations, men and women born in the late 1960s may have been subject to early exposures that increased their lifelong susceptibility to obesity. PMID:20375843

This research examined the development of materialism across the life span. Two initial studies revealed that (a) lay beliefs were that materialism declines with age and (b) previous research findings also implied a modest, negative relationship between age and materialism. Yet, previous research has considered age only as a linear control variable, thereby precluding the possibility of more intricate relationships between age and materialism. Moreover, prior studies have relied on cross-sectional data and thus confound age and cohort effects. To improve on this, the main study used longitudinal data from 8 waves spanning 9 years of over 4,200 individuals (16 to 90 years) to examine age effects on materialism while controlling for cohort and period effects. Using a multivariate multilevel latent growth model, it found that materialism followed a curvilinear trajectory across the life span, with the lowest levels at middle age and higher levels before and after that. Thus, in contrast to lay beliefs, materialism increased in older age. Moreover, age effects on materialism differed markedly between 3 core themes of materialism: acquisition centrality, possession-defined success, and acquisition as the pursuit of happiness. In particular, acquisition centrality and possession-defined success were higher at younger and older age. Independent of these age effects, older birth cohorts were oriented more toward possession-defined success, whereas younger birth cohorts were oriented more toward acquisition centrality. The economic downturn since 2008 led to a decrease in acquisition as the pursuit of happiness and in desires for personal growth, but to an increase in desires for achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record PMID:27560768

This paper applies Zipf rank approach to measure how long it will take for the individual economy to reach the final state of equilibrium by using local-level data of China's urban areas. The indicators, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the market capitalization (MCAP) per capita of 150 major cities in China are used for analyzing their convergence. Besides, the power law relationship is examined for GDP and MCAP. Our findings show that, compared to the classicalapproaches: β-convergence and σ-convergence, the Zipf ranking predicts that, in approximately 16 years, all the major cities in China will reach comparable values of GDP per capita. However, the MCAP per capita tends to follow the periodic fluctuation of the economic cycle, while the mean-log derivation (MLD) confirms the results of our study. Moreover, GDP per capita and MCAP per capita follow a power law with an average value of α = 0.41 which is higher than α = 0.38 obtained based on a large number of countries around the world.

Most dye staining experiments in natural soils result in highly heterogeneous flow patterns which are usually explained with presence of preferential flow paths or different kinds of flow instabilities. It is quite logic that soil structure is one of the main factors affecting infiltrations regimes, however the degree of flow stochasticity is not studied enough. In this contribution a substantial amount of large scale (2-4 m lateral excavations) field experiment data is considered (including forested hillslopes and agricultural fields) with special attention to sprinkling of two different staining substances with different dyeing mechanisms (common dye is visible both in adsorbed and in solution states; fluorescent dye - only in solution). The latter method allows an estimation of the flow stability (stochasticity). Most staining field experiments are supported by undisturbed sample collections (laboratory measurements for hydraulic conductivity, water retention curves, X-ray microtomography scans, grain size distributions, etc.). Preliminary results strongly support the evidence of stability of flow under similar precipitation and moisture conditions. Infiltration also correlated with soil structure and microproperties. Numerical modeling using classicalapproach (single-porosity coupled Richard's and advection-dispersion equations, random hydraulic properties based on log-normal experimentally obtained distribution) fails to describe experimentally obtained staining patterns. Multi-porosity models may provide better tools to account for different soil heterogeneities, but their parameters can not be obtained experimentally. Small scale solutions using pore-network or lattice-Botzmann methods based on microtomography scans are accurate, but computationally expensive (volumes around tens of cm3). Based on field observations a simple cellular automata approach to model staining patterns is developed and tested on experimental data. Our results are much better then

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar, a vector-borne protozoan disease, shows endemicity in larger areas of the tropical, subtropical and the Mediterranean countries. WHO report suggested that an annual incidence of VL is nearly 200,000 to 400,000 cases, resulting in 20,000 to 30,000 deaths per year. Treatment with available anti-leishmanial drugs are not cost effective, with varied efficacies and higher relapse rate, which poses a major challenge to current kala-azar control program in Indian subcontinent. Therefore, a vaccine against VL is imperative and knowing the fact that recovered individuals developed lifelong immunity against re-infection, it is feasible. Vaccine development program, though time taking, has recently gained momentum with the emergence of omic era, i.e., from genomics to immunomics. Classical as well as molecular methodologies have been overtaken with alternative strategies wherein proteomics based knowledge combined with computational techniques (immunoinformatics) speed up the identification and detailed characterization of new antigens for potential vaccine candidates. This may eventually help in the designing of polyvalent synthetic and recombinant chimeric vaccines as an effective intervention measures to control the disease in endemic areas. This review focuses on such newer approaches being utilized for vaccine development against VL. PMID:25202307

While there are a number of important critical pedagogies being proposed in the field of foreign language study, more attention should be given to providing concrete examples of how to apply these ideas in the classroom. This article offers a new approach to the textual analysis of literary classics through the keyword-based methodology originally…

A classical trajectory mapping method was developed to study chemical reactions in solution and in enzymes. In this method, the trajectories were calculated on a classical potential surface and the free energy profile was obtained by mapping the classical surface to the quantum mechanical surface obtained by the semiempirical AM1 method. There is no need to perform expensive quantum mechanical calculations at each iteration step. This method was applied to proton transfer reactions both in aqueous solution and in papain. The results are encouraging, indicating the applicability of this hybrid method to chemical reactions both in solution and in enzymes.

Classical novae (CNe) are convenient objects for studying dust formation. While they are not the dust-producing workhorses that AGB stars are, CNe provide a way to study a single epoch of dust formation. Estimates of dust masses in some novae have implied a large portion (if not all!) of the gas is turned into dust, which is not physical. We propose for these objects the problem lies in estimating the dust mass. We present a new approach using the dust radiative transfer code DIRTY. We chose this code for its ability to model various geometries and for including the effects of scattered light and transient heating of small grains. We have an extensive and unpublished time series of OIR photometry with select nights of spectroscopy for the dusty nova V868 Cen (Nova Cen 91). Our work is innovative for simultaneously modeling the optical (central engine) emission and the IR (dust shell) emission, whereas previous studies have only modeled the IR emission, allowing us to account for ``contamination" of short-wavelength IR by scattered optical light. Our initial models used the simplest geometry, a spherical shell either homogeneous or ``clumpy". While the spherical shell model could fit individual nights, it could not match the temporal evolution of the nova. Multiple studies of gas emission line profiles indicate that CNe ejecta shells have an ellipsoidal geometry with equatorial, tropical, and polar overdensities. We find that a torus model is a better fit for single nights of data as well as matching the temporal evolution of the nova. We present our results showing the formation, growth, and destruction of dust grains. We show importance of geometry on dust mass estimates and take the first steps to determine the physical location of dust formation in CNe.

We introduce a new semiclassical (SC) framework, the Mixed Quantum-Classical Initial Value Representation (MQC-IVR), that can be tuned to reproduce existing quantum-limit and classical-limit SC approximations to quantum real-time correlation functions. Applying a modified Filinov transformation to a quantum-limit SC formulation leads to the association of a Filinov parameter with each degree of freedom in the system; varying this parameter from zero to infinity controls the extent of quantization of the corresponding mode. The resulting MQC-IVR expression provides a consistent dynamic framework for mixed quantum-classical simulations and we demonstrate its numerical accuracy in the calculation of real-time correlation functions for a model 1D system and a model 2D system over the full range of quantum- to classical-limit behaviors.

In this article, we discuss a collection of active learning activities derived from classic psychology studies that illustrate the appropriate use of descriptive and inferential statistics. (Contains 2 tables.)

We introduce a new semiclassical (SC) framework, the Mixed Quantum-Classical Initial Value Representation (MQC-IVR), that can be tuned to reproduce existing quantum-limit and classical-limit SC approximations to quantum real-time correlation functions. Applying a modified Filinov transformation to a quantum-limit SC formulation leads to the association of a Filinov parameter with each degree of freedom in the system; varying this parameter from zero to infinity controls the extent of quantization of the corresponding mode. The resulting MQC-IVR expression provides a consistent dynamic framework for mixed quantum-classical simulations and we demonstrate its numerical accuracy in the calculation of real-time correlation functions for a model 1D system and a model 2D system over the full range of quantum- to classical-limit behaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to present the design and program implementation of a general procedure which yields the mathematical model for a classical or rotary inverted pendulum system with an arbitrary number of pendulum links. Lagrange equations of the second kind with an integrated Rayleigh dissipation function are employed in model design, and the energetic balance relations, derived for the base and all pendulum links in a generalized (n-link) classical and rotary inverted pendulum system, are implemented in form of symbolic MATLAB functions and a MATLAB GUI application. The validity and accuracy of motion equations generated by the application are demonstrated by evaluating the open-loop responses of simulation models of classical double and rotary single inverted pendulum.

The excess Gibbs free energy due to non-convergent ordering is described by a Landau expansion in which configurational and non-configurational entropy contributions are separated: 269_2004_Article_BF00203931_TeX2GIFE1.gif G^L = - hQ_t + tfrac{1}{2}a^* (T - T_c^* )Q_t^2 + tfrac{1}{n}e_n Q_t^n - TS_{conf \\cdot }^{ord} Neglecting higher order terms in Q t t, this expansion is formally equivalent to the reciprocal solution model for the distribution of Fe2+ and Mg over the non-equivalent M1 and M2 sites of orthopyroxenes: 269_2004_Article_BF00203931_TeX2GIFE2.gif begin{gathered} G^{ord} = - tfrac{1}{2}[Δ G_{exch}^0 - (L_{M1}^G - L_{M2}^G )X] + Q_t \\ {text{ + }}tfrac{1}{4}[Δ G_{rec}^0 - (L_{M2}^G - L_{M1}^G )] + Q_t^2 {text{ - }}TS_{{text{conf}}^ \\cdot }^{{text{ord}}} \\ The Q t term describes a temperature and composition-dependent thermodynamic field that prevents the crystal from attaining full disorder at a finite temperature. The X term models the dependence of the field on composition. It causes the isotherms in a Roozeboom diagram X{Fe/M2}vs. X{Fe/M1}to be asymmetric. The Q{t/2}term incorporates nearest-neighbour interactions. Higher order interactions are accounted for by the Q{t/n}term, which is not routinely foreseen in the reciprocal solution model. The critical temperature T{c/*}is interpreted as a ratio of enthalpy and entropy contributions to the free energy, ΔG{rec/0}, of a reciprocal reaction 269_2004_Article_BF00203931_TeX2GIFE3.gif T_c^* = {Δ H_{rec}^0 - (L_{M1}^H + L_{M2}^H )}/{Δ S_{rec^0 - (L_{M1}^S + L_{M2}^S )}}. The comparison of Landau and classicalapproaches is extended to convergent ordering models which are shown to be incorporated in expressions for non-convergent ordering.

A unifying method based on factorization properties is introduced for finding symmetries of quantum and classical superintegrable systems using the example of the Tremblay-Turbiner-Winternitz (TTW) model. It is shown that the symmetries of the quantum system can be implemented in a natural way to its classical version. Besides, by this procedure we get also other type of constants of motion depending explicitly on time that allow to find directly the motion of the system whose corresponding trajectories coincide with those obtained previously by using its symmetries.

A unifying method based on factorization properties is introduced for finding symmetries of quantum and classical superintegrable systems using the example of the Tremblay-Turbiner-Winternitz (TTW) model. It is shown that the symmetries of the quantum system can be implemented in a natural way to its classical version. Besides, by this procedure we get also other type of constants of motion depending explicitly on time that allow to find directly the motion of the system whose corresponding trajectories coincide with those obtained previously by using its symmetries.

The thought of learning about the principles of classical management and the machine metaphor of organizing can get many organizational communication students yawning just by seeing the subject in a syllabus. Abundant movie and television examples associated with the machine-like nature of workplace productivity are often used to demonstrate…

This developmental study offers a definitive strategy for successfully teaching such representative classics as Hamlet, A Tale of Two Cities, Silas Marner, and My Last Duchess to students who are reading as much as three years below grade level but who are nevertheless normally intelligent. The study provides evidence tending to support the…

A unifying method based on factorization properties is introduced for finding symmetries of quantum and classical superintegrable systems using the example of the Tremblay–Turbiner–Winternitz (TTW) model. It is shown that the symmetries of the quantum system can be implemented in a natural way to its classical version. Besides, by this procedure we get also other type of constants of motion depending explicitly on time that allow to find directly the motion of the system whose corresponding trajectories coincide with those obtained previously by using its symmetries. -- Highlights: ► A unified method is given to find symmetries of classical and quantum systems. ► Ladder–shift operators and functions have analog expressions and relations. ► This method is applied to the TTW system to obtain its symmetries. ► For the classical cases a set of time dependent constants of motion are obtained. ► They allow us to find directly the motion and trajectories.

Most 18th-century rhetoricians viewed style as the expression of a writer's individual character and thought, placing little emphasis on the lists of figures common in many 17th-century rhetorics. John Stirling and others, however, continued the 17th-century tradition that reduced rhetoric largely to style and emphasized classical figures of…

We present a set-theoretic model of the mental representation of classically quantified sentences (All P are Q, Some P are Q, Some P are not Q, and No P are Q). We take inclusion, exclusion, and their negations to be primitive concepts. We show that although these sentences are known to have a diagrammatic expression (in the form of the Gergonne…

Modern advances in molecular techniques are only recently being incorporated into programs for the classical biological control of weeds. Molecular analyses are able to elucidate information about target weeds that is critical to improving control success, such as taxonomic clarification, evidence o...

Motivated by the study of the operator forms of the constant classical Yang-Baxter equation given by Semenov-Tian-Shansky, Kupershmidt and others, we try to construct the rational solutions of the classical Yang-Baxter equation with parameters by means of certain linear operators. The fact that the rational solutions of the CYBE for the simple complex Lie algebras can be interpreted in term of certain linear operators motivates us to give the notion of -operators such that these linear operators are the -operators associated to the adjoint representations. Such a study can be generalized to the Lie algebras with nondegenerate symmetric invariant bilinear forms. Furthermore we give a construction of a rational solution of CYBE from an -operator associated to the coadjoint representation and an arbitrary representation with a trivial product in the representation space, respectively.

V-band clamp joints are used in a wide range of applications to connect circular flanges, for ducts, pipes and the turbocharger housing. Previous studies and research on V-bands are either purely empirical or analytical with limited applicability on the variety of V-band design and working conditions. In this paper models of the V-band are developed based on the classical theory of solid mechanics and the finite element method to study the behaviour of theV-bands under axial loading conditions. The good agreement between results from the developed FEA and the classical model support the suitability of the latter to modelV-band joints with diameters greater than 110mm under axial loading. The results from both models suggest that the axial stiffness for thisV-band cross section reaches a peak value for V-bands with radius of approximately 150 mmacross a wide range of coefficients of friction. Also, it is shown that the coefficient of friction and the wedge angle have a significant effect on the axial stiffness of V-bands.

It is shown that the Dirac-Nambu-Goto brane can be described as a point particle in an infinite-dimensional brane space with a particular metric. This suggests a generalization to brane spaces with arbitrary metric, including the “flat” metric. Then quantization of such a system is straightforward: it is just like quantization of a bunch of noninteracting particles. This leads us to a system of a continuous set of scalar fields. For a particular choice of the metric in the space of fields we find that the classical Dirac-Nambu-Goto brane theory arises as an effective theory of such an underlying quantum field theory. Quantization of branes is important for the brane world scenarios, and thus for “quantum gravity.”

The motion of an electric charge in the field of a magnetic monopole is described by means of a Lagrangian model written in terms of the Clifford algebra of the physical space. The equations of motion are written in terms of a radial equation (involving r=| r|, where r( t) is the charge trajectory) and a rotor equation (written in terms of an unitary operator spinor R). The solution corresponding to the charge trajectory in the field of a magnetic monopole is given in parametric form. The model can be generalized in order to describe the motion of a charge in the field of a magnetic monopole and other additional central forces, and as an example, we discuss the classical ones involving linear and inverse square interactions.

In a brief article published in 1931, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar made public an important astronomical discovery. In his article, the then young Indian astrophysicist introduced what is now known as the Chandrasekhar limit. This limit establishes the maximum mass of a stellar remnant beyond which the repulsion force between electrons due to the exclusion principle can no longer stop the gravitational collapse. In the present article, we create an elemental approximation to the Chandrasekhar limit, accessible to non-graduate science and engineering students. The article focuses especially on clarifying the origins of Chandrasekhar’s discovery and the underlying physical concepts. Throughout the article, only basic algebra is used as well as some general notions of classical physics and quantum theory.

A systematic frame for the theory of classical physics is presented. The purpose of the modification in structure of the science is to economize the teaching, learning, and application of physics, and the communication with other disciplines. Isomorphic procedures applicable to the branches of physics and to other sciences are recommended. A system is defined as an imagined container; its contents of extensive (substancelike) quantities are used to describe the state of the system; balance equations account for the dynamic change in a system's state through processes. The procedure, essentially a space integral formulation of macroscopic transport equations, is applied to physics by using the extensive quantity of entropy and the conserved extensive quantities of mass, energy, momentum, angular momentum, and electric charge. Examples are given from the areas of mechanics, electricity, and heat.

We discuss carrier mobilities in the quantum Non-Equilibrium Green's Functions (NEGF) framework. We introduce a method for the extraction of the mobility that is free from contact resistance contamination and with minimal needs for ensemble averages. We focus on silicon thin films as an illustration, although the method can be applied to various materials such as semiconductor nanowires or carbon nanostructures. We then introduce a new paradigm for the definition of the partial mobility μ{sub M} associated with a given elastic scattering mechanism “M,” taking phonons (PH) as a reference (μ{sub M}{sup −1}=μ{sub PH+M}{sup −1}−μ{sub PH}{sup −1}). We argue that this definition makes better sense in a quantum transport framework as it is free from long range interference effects that can appear in purely ballistic calculations. As a matter of fact, these mobilities satisfy Matthiessen's rule for three mechanisms [e.g., surface roughness (SR), remote Coulomb scattering (RCS) and phonons] much better than the usual, single mechanism calculations. We also discuss the problems raised by the long range spatial correlations in the RCS disorder. Finally, we compare semi-classical Kubo-Greenwood (KG) and quantum NEGF calculations. We show that KG and NEGF are in reasonable agreement for phonon and RCS, yet not for SR. We discuss the reasons for these discrepancies.

For each finite-dimensional simple Lie algebra {g}, starting from a general {g}⊗ {g}-valued solutions r(u, v) of the generalized classical Yang-Baxter equation, we construct infinite-dimensional Lie algebras widetilde{{g}}-_r of {g}-valued meromorphic functions. We outline two ways of embedding of the Lie algebra widetilde{{g}}-_r into a larger Lie algebra with Kostant-Adler-Symmes decomposition. The first of them is an embedding of widetilde{{g}}-_r into Lie algebra widetilde{{g}}(u^{-1},u)) of formal Laurent power series. The second is an embedding of widetilde{{g}}-_r as a quasigraded Lie subalgebra into a quasigraded Lie algebra widetilde{{g}}_r: widetilde{{g}}_r=widetilde{{g}}-_r+widetilde{{g}}+_r, such that the Kostant-Adler-Symmes decomposition is consistent with a chosen quasigrading. We construct dual spaces widetilde{{g}}^*_r, (widetilde{{g}}^{± }_r)^* and explicit form of the Lax operators L(u), L±(u) as elements of these spaces. We develop a theory of integrable finite-dimensional hamiltonian systems and soliton hierarchies based on Lie algebras widetilde{{g}}_r, widetilde{{g}}^{± }_r. We consider examples of such systems and soliton equations and obtain the most general form of integrable tops, Kirchhoff-type integrable systems, and integrable Landau-Lifshitz-type equations corresponding to the Lie algebra {g}.

Not everyone exposed to trauma suffers flashbacks, bad dreams, numbing, fear, anxiety, sleeplessness, hyper-vigilance, hyperarousal, or an inability to cope, but those who do may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a major physical and mental health problem for military personnel and civilians exposed to trauma. There is still debate about the incidence and prevalence of PTSD especially among the military, but for those who are diagnosed, behavioral therapy and drug treatment strategies have proven to be less than effective. A number of these treatment strategies are based on rodent fear conditioning research and are capable of treating only some of the symptoms because the extinction of fear does not deal with the various forms of hyper-vigilance and hyperarousal experienced by people with PTSD. To help address this problem, we have developed a preclinical eyeblink classical conditioning model of PTSD in which conditioning and hyperarousal can both be extinguished. We review this model and discuss findings showing that unpaired stimulus presentations can be effective in reducing levels of conditioning and hyperarousal even when unconditioned stimulus intensity is reduced to the point where it is barely capable of eliciting a response. These procedures have direct implications for the treatment of PTSD and could be implemented in a virtual reality environment. PMID:25904874

The current model of planarian anterior regeneration evokes the establishment of low levels of Wnt signalling at anterior wounds, promoting anterior polarity and subsequent elaboration of anterior fate through the action of the TALE class homeodomain PREP. The classical observation that decapitations positioned anteriorly will regenerate heads more rapidly than posteriorly positioned decapitations was among the first to lead to the proposal of gradients along an anteroposterior (AP) axis in a developmental context. An explicit understanding of this phenomenon is not included in the current model of anterior regeneration. This raises the question what the underlying molecular and cellular basis of this temporal gradient is, whether it can be explained by current models and whether understanding the gradient will shed light on regenerative events. Differences in anterior regeneration rate are established very early after amputation and this gradient is dependent on the activity of Hedgehog (Hh) signalling. Animals induced to produce two tails by either Smed-APC-1(RNAi) or Smed-ptc(RNAi) lose anterior fate but form previously described ectopic anterior brain structures. Later these animals form peri-pharyngeal brain structures, which in Smed-ptc(RNAi) grow out of the body establishing a new A/P axis. Combining double amputation and hydroxyurea treatment with RNAi experiments indicates that early ectopic brain structures are formed by uncommitted stem cells that have progressed through S-phase of the cell cycle at the time of amputation. Our results elaborate on the current simplistic model of both AP axis and brain regeneration. We find evidence of a gradient of hedgehog signalling that promotes posterior fate and temporarily inhibits anterior regeneration. Our data supports a model for anterior brain regeneration with distinct early and later phases of regeneration. Together these insights start to delineate the interplay between discrete existing, new, and then

The presence of plasmonic material influences the optical properties of nearby molecules in untrivial ways due to the dynamical plasmon-molecule coupling. We combine quantum and classical calculation schemes to study this phenomenon in a hybrid system that consists of a Na(2) molecule located in the gap between two Au/Ag nanoparticles. The molecule is treated quantum-mechanically with time-dependent density-functional theory, and the nanoparticles with quasistatic classical electrodynamics. The nanoparticle dimer has a plasmon resonance in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the Na(2) molecule has an electron-hole excitation in the same energy range. Due to the dynamical interaction of the two subsystems the plasmon and the molecular excitations couple, creating a hybridized molecular-plasmon excited state. This state has unique properties that yield e.g. enhanced photoabsorption compared to the freestanding Na(2) molecule. The computational approach used enables decoupling of the mutual plasmon-molecule interaction, and our analysis verifies that it is not legitimate to neglect the back coupling effect when describing the dynamical interaction between plasmonic material and nearby molecules. Time-resolved analysis shows nearly instantaneous formation of the coupled state, and provides an intuitive picture of the underlying physics. PMID:25028486

The presence of plasmonic material influences the optical properties of nearby molecules in untrivial ways due to the dynamical plasmon-molecule coupling. We combine quantum and classical calculation schemes to study this phenomenon in a hybrid system that consists of a Na2 molecule located in the gap between two Au/Ag nanoparticles. The molecule is treated quantum-mechanically with time-dependent density-functional theory, and the nanoparticles with quasistatic classical electrodynamics. The nanoparticle dimer has a plasmon resonance in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the Na2 molecule has an electron-hole excitation in the same energy range. Due to the dynamical interaction of the two subsystems the plasmon and the molecular excitations couple, creating a hybridized molecular-plasmon excited state. This state has unique properties that yield e.g. enhanced photoabsorption compared to the freestanding Na2 molecule. The computational approach used enables decoupling of the mutual plasmon-molecule interaction, and our analysis verifies that it is not legitimate to neglect the backcoupling effect when describing the dynamical interaction between plasmonic material and nearby molecules. Time-resolved analysis shows nearly instantaneous formation of the coupled state, and provides an intuitive picture of the underlying physics.

Despite disillusioning worst-case behavior, classic algorithms for single-source shortest-paths (SSSP) like Bellman-Ford are still being used in practice, especially due to their simple data structures. However, surprisingly little is known about the average-case complexity of these approaches. We provide new theoretical and experimental results for the performance of classic label-correcting SSSP algorithms on graph classes with non-negative random edge weights. In particular, we prove a tight lower bound of Ω(n 2) for the running times of Bellman-Ford on a class of sparse graphs with O(n) nodes and edges; the best previous bound was Ω(n 4/3 - ɛ ). The same improvements are shown for Pallottino's algorithm. We also lift a lower bound for the approximate bucket implementation of Dijkstra's algorithm from Ω(n logn / loglogn) to Ω(n 1.2 - ɛ ). Furthermore, we provide an experimental evaluation of our new graph classes in comparison with previously used test inputs.

Different authors have used different estimates of variability in the denominator of the Reliable Change Index (RCI). Maassen attempts to clarify some of the differences and the assumptions underlying them. In particular he compares the 'classical' approach using an estimate S(Ed) supposedly based on measurement error alone with an estimate S(Diff) based on the variability of observed differences in a population that should have no true change. Maassen concludes that not only is S(Ed) based on classical theory, but it properly estimates variability due to measurement error and practice effect while S(Diff) overestimates variability by accounting twice for the variability due to practice. Simulations show Maassen to be wrong on both accounts. With an error rate nominally set to 10%, RCI estimates using S(Diff) wrongly declare change in 10.4% and 9.4% of simulated cases without true change while estimates using S(Ed) wrongly declare change in 17.5% and 12.3% of the simulated cases (p < .000000001 and p < .008, respectively). In the simulation that separates measurement error and practice effects, SEd estimates the variability of change due to measurement error to be .34, when the true variability due to measurement error was .014. Neuropsychologists should not use SEd in the denominator of the RCI. PMID:15637781

A highly diverse T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is a fundamental property of an effective immune system, and is associated with efficient control of viral infections and other pathogens. However, direct measurement of total TCR diversity is impossible. The diversity is high and the frequency distribution of individual TCRs is heavily skewed; the diversity therefore cannot be captured in a blood sample. Consequently, estimators of the total number of TCR clonotypes that are present in the individual, in addition to those observed, are essential. This is analogous to the ‘unseen species problem’ in ecology. We review the diversity (species richness) estimators that have been applied to T-cell repertoires and the methods used to validate these estimators. We show that existing approaches have significant shortcomings, and frequently underestimate true TCR diversity. We highlight our recently developed estimator, DivE, which can accurately estimate diversity across a range of immunological and biological systems. PMID:26150657

We develop a self-consistent field theory for particle dynamics by extremizing the functional integral representation of a microscopic Langevin equation with respect to the collective fields. Although our approach is general, here we formulate it in the context of polymer dynamics to highlight satisfying formal analogies with equilibrium self-consistent field theory. An exact treatment of the dynamics of a single chain in a mean force field emerges naturally via a functional Smoluchowski equation, while the time-dependent monomer density and mean force field are determined self-consistently. As a simple initial demonstration of the theory, leaving an application to polymer dynamics for future work, we examine the dynamics of trapped interacting Brownian particles. For binary particle mixtures, we observe the kinetics of phase separation.

During the IR-streaked XUV photoemission from nanoparticles, the net IR electric field varies over the spatial extension of the target, an effect that for metallic particles is further enhanced by strong induced plasmonic polarization. This spatial dependence prevents the convenient use of ``Volkov states'' [solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a free electron in a spatially homogeneous (cw) electromagnetic field] as approximate final states in quantum-mechanical photoemission calculations. To obtain the wave function of a free electron in a spatially inhomogeneous electromagnetic field, we propose a semi-classicalapproach based on time-dependent WKB theory. Generalizing ordinary Volkov states, this method provides a simple expression for modeling the final photoelectron state. We employ such generalized Volkov states to calculate the streaked photoelectron spectra from gold nanospheres and assess their accurary. Supported by the NSD-EPSCoR program, NSF, and the USDoE.

Cardiovascular disease represents the main cause of death worldwide. Novel therapies to reduce elevated blood pressure and treat resistant hypertension, to consequently reduce the associated cardiovascular risk factors, are still required. Among the different strategies commonly used in medicinal chemistry to develop new molecules, the synthesis of multitarget/hybrid compounds combining two or more pharmacophore groups targeting simultaneously selected factors involved in cardiovascular diseases, has gained increasing interest. This review will focus on the most recent literature on multifunctional cardiovascular drugs, paying particular attention on hybrid compounds bearing natural scaffolds, considering that compounds derived from medicinal extracts are generally appealing for the medicinal chemist as they often bear the so-called "privileged structures". Moreover, taking into account many excellent reviews dealing with multitarget cardiovascular drugs published in the last few years, mainly devoted to RAAS inhibition and/or NO donors hybrid drugs, herein the most significant results obtained and the benefits and limitations of these approaches will be highlighted. PMID:23410171

An integrated approach incorporating multicomponent and classical solute geothermometry was used to evaluate its utility to estimate the temperature of the Bath geothermal reservoir, a low-enthalpy system on the island of Jamaica. Reservoir temperatures were estimated from (1) empirical geothermometric equations; (2) simulations of solute geothermometers using SolGeo software; (3) computations of saturation indices [Log(Q/K)] of reservoir minerals from full chemically-analyzed thermal water samples over a temperature range of 25-220°C in PHREEQC; and (4) the Giggenbach Na-K-Mg geothermometer. A principal component analysis (PCA) shows strong, positive correlations between Na+, K+, and Mg2+ and is regarded as significant for these ions in their reliance as useful reservoir geoindicators. However, a negative correlation exists between Na+, K+, Mg2+ and silica (SiO2). The more realistic estimates of the geothermal reservoir temperature were provided by the Na-K and Na-K-Mg geothermometers, whereas the Na-K-Ca geothermometer overestimated reservoir temperatures. Estimated geotemperatures from silica-quartz geothermometers were the lowest. The discrepancy in estimated geotemperatures may be due to processes such as boiling, degassing, dilution, rock dissolution, and mixing during the ascent of geothermal fluids. Log (Q/K) curves cluster over a range of equilibrium temperatures closest to Na-K and Na-K-Mg geothermometers at 80-102°C. Reservoir temperatures estimated for the Bath geothermal system range between 79-118°C. Comparisons of the estimated geotemperatures using the integrated approach to geothermometry show a favorable agreement. Based on the results of this investigation, the integrated geothermometric approach provided a more reliable approach to reconstruct the fluid composition at depth and estimate the geothermal reservoir temperature.

Background In contrast with normal cells, most of the cancer cells depend on aerobic glycolysis for energy production in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bypassing mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, compared to normal cells, cancer cells exhibit higher consumption of glucose with higher production of lactate. Again, higher rate of glycolysis provides the necessary glycolytic intermediary precursors for DNA, protein and lipid synthesis to maintain high active proliferation of the tumor cells. In this scenario, classical control theory based approach may be useful to explore the altered dynamics of the cancer cells. Since the dynamics of the cancer cells is different from that of the normal cells, understanding their dynamics may lead to development of novel therapeutic strategies. Method We have developed a model based on the state space equations of classical control theory along with an order reduction technique to mimic the actual dynamic behavior of mammalian central carbon metabolic (CCM) pathway in normal cells. Here, we have modified Michaelis Menten kinetic equation to incorporate feedback mechanism along with perturbations and cross talks associated with a metabolic pathway. Furthermore, we have perturbed the proposed model to reduce the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Thereafter, we have connected proportional-integral (PI) controller(s) with the model for tuning it to behave like the CCM pathway of a cancer cell. This methodology allows one to track the altered dynamics mediated by different enzymes. Results and Discussions The proposed model successfully mimics all the probable dynamics of the CCM pathway in normal cells. Moreover, experimental results demonstrate that in cancer cells, a coordination among enzymes catalyzing pentose phosphate pathway and intermediate glycolytic enzymes along with switching of pyruvate kinase (M2 isoform) plays an important role to maintain their altered dynamics. PMID:26367460

Induced circular dichroism (ICD) is a spectroscopic phenomenon that provides versatile and useful methods for characterizing the structural and dynamic properties of the binding of drugs to target proteins. The understanding of biorecognition processes at the molecular level is essential to discover and validate new pharmacological targets, and to design and develop new potent and selective drugs. The present article reviews the main applications of ICD to drug binding studies on serum carrier proteins, going from the classicapproaches for the derivation of drug binding parameters and the identification of binding sites, to an overview of the emerging trends for the characterization of binding modes by means of quantum chemical (QC) techniques. The advantages and limits of the ICD methods for the determination of binding parameters are critically reviewed; the capability to investigate the binding interactions of drugs and metabolites to their target proteins is also underlined, as well as the possibility of characterizing the binding sites to obtain a complete picture of the binding mechanism and dynamics. The new applications of ICD methods to identify stereoselective binding modes of drug/protein complexes are then reviewed with relevant examples. The combined application of experimental ICD spectroscopy and QC calculations is shown to identify qualitatively the bound conformations of ligands to target proteins even in the absence of a detailed structure of the binding sites, either obtained from experimental X-ray crystallography and NMR measurements or from computational models of the complex. PMID:25769668

The theory of the quantal level statistics of a classically integrable system, developed by Makino et al. in order to investigate the non-Poissonian behaviors of level-spacing distribution (LSD) and level-number variance (LNV) [H. Makino and S. Tasaki, Phys. Rev. E 67, 066205 (2003); H. Makino and S. Tasaki, Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 150, 376 (2003); H. Makino, N. Minami, and S. Tasaki, Phys. Rev. E 79, 036201 (2009); H. Makino and S. Tasaki, Prog. Theor. Phys. 114, 929 (2005)], is successfully extended to the study of the E(K,L) function, which constitutes a fundamental measure to determine most statistical observables of quantal levels in addition to LSD and LNV. In the theory of Makino et al., the eigenenergy level is regarded as a superposition of infinitely many components whose formation is supported by the Berry-Robnik approach in the far semiclassical limit [M. Robnik, Nonlinear Phenom. Complex Syst. 1, 1 (1998)]. We derive the limiting E(K,L) function in the limit of infinitely many components and elucidate its properties when energy levels show deviations from the Poisson statistics.

Recently, Donoso and Martens described a method for evolving both classical and quantum phase-space distribution functions, W(q,p,t), that involves the propagation of an ensemble of correlated trajectories. The trajectories are linked into a unified whole by spatial and momentum derivatives of density dependent terms in the equations of motion. On each time step, these nonlocal terms were evaluated by fitting the density around each trajectory to an assumed functional form. In the present study, we develop a different trajectory method for propagating phase-space distribution functions. A hierarchy of coupled analytic equations of motion are derived for the q and p derivatives of the density and a truncated set of these are integrated along each trajectory concurrently with the equation of motion for the density. The advantage of this approach is that individual trajectories can be propagated, one at a time, and function fitting is not required to evaluate the nonlocal terms. Regional nonlocality can be incorporated at various levels of approximation to "dress" what would otherwise be "thin" locally propagating trajectories. This derivative propagation method is used to obtain trajectory solutions for the Klein-Kramers equation, the Husimi equation, and for a smoothed version of the Caldeira-Leggett equation derived by the Diosi. Trajectory solutions are obtained for the relaxation of an oscillator in contact with a thermal bath and for the decay of a metastable state.

A new multiscale computational methodology was developed to effectively incorporate the scattered electric field of a plasmonic nanoparticle into a quantum mechanical (QM) optical property calculation for a nearby dye molecule. For a given location of the dye molecule with respect to the nanoparticle, a frequency-dependent scattering response function was first determined by the classical electrodynamics (ED) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach. Subsequently, the time-dependent scattered electric field at the dye molecule was calculated using the FDTD scattering response function through a multidimensional Fourier transform to reflect the effect of polarization of the nanoparticle on the local field at the molecule. Finally, a real-time time-dependent density function theory (RT-TDDFT) approach was employed to obtain a desired optical property (such as absorption cross section) of the dye molecule in the presence of the nanoparticle’s scattered electric field. Our hybrid QM/ED methodology was demonstrated by investigating the absorption spectrum of the N3 dye molecule and the Raman spectrum of pyridine, both of which were shown to be significantly enhanced by a 20 nm diameter silver sphere. In contrast to traditional quantum mechanical optical calculations in which the field at the molecule is entirely determined by intensity and polarization direction of the incident light, in this work we show that the light propagation direction as well as polarization and intensity are important to nanoparticle-bound dye molecule response. At no additional computation cost compared to conventional ED and QM calculations, this method provides a reliable way to couple the response of the dye molecule’s individual electrons to the collective dielectric response of the nanoparticle.

A humanistic approach to the study of classical Greek and Greek culture at the secondary school level is detailed in this guide. References to the student programed text and other multisensory instructional materials used in the system focus on instructional objectives geared to students who are not necessarily college-bound. The standard Attic…

This is a students' programmed text for Level Alpha of a humanistic approach to the instruction of Classical Greek and Greek culture in secondary schools. The goals of the program are to help students become aware of: (1) the impact of Hellenic civilization on contemporary society, including the impact of the Greek language on English; (2) the…

In this investigation, we used a classic latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered approach, to identify groups of students who had similar profiles for multiple dimensions of academic self-concept (ASC) and related these LPA groups to a diverse set of correlates. Consistent with a priori predictions, we identified 5 LPA groups representing…

This is a student's programmed text for Level Beta of a humanistic approach to instruction of Classical Greek and Greek culture in secondary schools. The goals of the program are to help students become aware of: (1) the impact of Hellenic civilization on contemporary society, including the impact of the Greek language on English; (2) the…

This is a teacher's guide for Level Beta of a humanistic approach to instruction of Classical Greek and Greek culture in secondary schools. The goals of the program are to help students become aware of: (1) the impact of Hellenic civilization on contemporary society, including the impact of the Greek language on English; (2) the similarities and…

Appraises several databases devoted to classical literature. Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) contains the entire extant corpus of ancient Greek literature, including works on lexicography and historiography, extending into the 15th century. Other works awaiting completion are the Database of Classical Bibliography and a CD-ROM pictorial dictionary…

A broadened classical master equation (BCME) is proposed for modeling nonadiabatic dynamics for molecules near metal surfaces over a wide range of parameter values and with arbitrary initial conditions. Compared with a standard classical master equation-which is valid in the limit of weak molecule-metal couplings-this BCME should be valid for both weak and strong molecule-metal couplings. (The BCME can be mapped to a Fokker-Planck equation that captures level broadening correctly.) Finally, our BCME can be solved with a simple surface hopping algorithm; numerical tests of equilibrium and dynamical observables look very promising. PMID:26772563

The spinor formulation of classical dynamics, which arises naturally in Clifford algebra approaches, describes particle dynamics in terms of spinor amplitudes and gives quantum mechanical, spin-1/2 form to many classical expressions for particles whose dynamics can be represented by single spinor fields. Here we use tensor products of the algebra of physical space (APS)[1] to explore the quantum/classical interface and provide insight into quantum properties and, in particular, entanglement in multiparticle spin-1/2 systems. Entanglement in mixed-state systems is seen as spinor (Â"quantumÂ") correlation beyond the maximum possible with classical frequencies or probabilities. The relevance to systems of qubits in a quantum computer is elaborated. [1] W. E. Baylis, Â"Applications of Clifford Algebras in PhysicsÂ", in Lectures on Clifford (Geometric) Algebras and Applications, R. Ablamowicz and G. Sobczyk, eds., Birkhäuser Boston, 2004.

Attosecond time-resolved (XUV-pump, IR-probe) spectroscopy has been shown to be a powerful method for investigating the electron dynamics in atoms, and this technique is now being transferred to the investigation of electronic excitations, electron propagation, and collective electronic (plasmonic) effects in solids. Based on classical trajectory calculations, we simulated (i) the final photoelectron velocity distribution in order to provide observable velocity-map images for gold nanospheres of 10 and 100 nm diameter and (ii) streaked photoemission spectra. By analyzing our numerical results, we illustrate how spatio-temporal information about the sub-IR-cycle plasmonic and electronic dynamics is encoded in velocity-map images and streaked photoelectron spectra. Supported by the NE/KS NSF-EPSCOR program.

The relationship between structure in the potential surface and classical mechanical observables is examined by means of functional sensitivity analysis. Functional sensitivities provide maps of the potential surface, highlighting those regions that play the greatest role in determining the behavior of observables. A set of differential equations for the sensitivities of the trajectory components are derived. These are then solved using a Green's function method. It is found that the sensitivities become singular at the trajectory turning points with the singularities going as η-3/2, with η being the distance from the nearest turning point. The sensitivities are zero outside of the energetically and dynamically allowed region of phase space. A second set of equations is derived from which the sensitivities of observables can be directly calculated. An adjoint Green's function technique is employed, providing an efficient method for numerically calculating these quantities. Sensitivity maps are presented for a simple collinear atom-diatom inelastic scattering problem and for two Henon-Heiles type Hamiltonians modeling intramolecular processes. It is found that the positions of the trajectory caustics in the bound state problem determine regions of the highest potential surface sensitivities. In the scattering problem (which is impulsive, so that ``sticky'' collisions did not occur), the positions of the turning points of the individual trajectory components determine the regions of high sensitivity. In both cases, these lines of singularities are superimposed on a rich background structure. Most interesting is the appearance of classical interference effects. The interference features in the sensitivity maps occur most noticeably where two or more lines of turning points cross. The important practical motivation for calculating the sensitivities derives from the fact that the potential is a function, implying that any direct attempt to understand how local

Molecular dynamics in 2-D accompanied by granular model provides an opportunity to investigate binding between nuclei particles and its properties that arises during collision in a fusion reaction. A fully classicalapproach is used to observe the influence of initial angle of nucleus orientation to the product yielded by the reaction. As an example, a simplest fusion reaction between {sub 1}H{sup 2} and {sub 1}H{sup 3} is observed. Several products of the fusion reaction have been obtained, even the unreported ones, including temporary {sub 2}He{sup 4} nucleus.

Motivated by the growing importance of organometallic nanostructured materials and nanoparticles as microscopic devices for diagnostic and sensing applications, and by the recent considerable development in the simulation of such materials, we here choose a prototype system - para-nitroaniline (pNA) on gold nanoparticles - to demonstrate effective strategies for designing metal nanoparticles with organic conjugates from fundamental principles. We investigated the motion, adsorption mode, and physical chemistry properties of gold-pNA particles, increasing in size, through classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in connection with quantum chemistry (QC) calculations. We apply the quantum mechanics-capacitance molecular mechanics method [Z. Rinkevicius et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2014, 10, 989] for calculations of the properties of the conjugate nanoparticles, where time dependent density functional theory is used for the QM part and a capacitance-polarizability parametrization of the MM part, where induced dipoles and charges by metallic charge transfer are considered. Dispersion and short-range repulsion forces are included as well. The scheme is applied to one- and two-photon absorption of gold-pNA clusters increasing in size toward the nanometer scale. Charge imaging of the surface introduces red-shifts both because of altered excitation energy dependence and variation of the relative intensity of the inherent states making up for the total band profile. For the smaller nanoparticles the difference in the crystal facets are important for the spectral outcome which is also influenced by the surrounding MM environment. PMID:27224666

We show that a smooth, small enough Cauchy datum launches a unique classical solution of the relativistic Vlasov-Darwin (RVD) system globally in time. A similar result is claimed in Seehafer (Commun Math Sci 6:749-769, 2008) following the work in Pallard (Int Mat Res Not 57191:1-31, 2006). Our proof does not require estimates derived from the conservation of the total energy, nor those previously given on the transversal component of the electric field. These estimates are crucial in the references cited above. Instead, we exploit the formulation of the RVD system in terms of the generalized space and momentum variables. By doing so, we produce a simple a priori estimate on the transversal component of the electric field. We widen the functional space required for the Cauchy datum to extend the solution globally in time, and we improve decay estimates given in Seehafer (2008) on the electromagnetic field and its space derivatives. Our method extends the constructive proof presented in Rein (Handbook of differential equations: evolutionary equations, vol 3. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2007) to solve the Cauchy problem for the Vlasov-Poisson system with a small initial datum.

We present fundamentals of a prequantum model with hidden variables of the classical field type. In some sense this is the comeback of classical wave mechanics. Our approach also can be considered as incorporation of quantum mechanics into classical signal theory. All quantum averages (including correlations of entangled systems) can be represented as classical signal averages and correlations.

In recent years more and more long-term broadband data sets are collected in geosciences. Therefore there is an urgent need of algorithms which semi-automatically analyze and decompose these data into components which are associated with different processes. In the past, the standard tools for decomposing data sets were based on either the Fourier or the Wavelet Transform. In this paper we investigate the novel approaches Empirical Mode Decomposition and Sparse Decomposition as well as the Harmonic and Wavelet Decomposition for long-term sea floor pressure data analysis. In a comparative investigation conducted with Matlab® these tools were applied to real and synthetic sea floor pressure data sets. Our results indicate that none of the methods is entirely suited for this objective, but Sparse Decomposition performs best except for computing efficiency.

The intracellular delivery of molecules across the plasma membrane represents a major obstacle. The conjugation of cell-permeable peptides (CPPs) to proteins promotes the uptake and internalization. However, uptake of CPPs is receptor independent and not cell-type specific. Recently, we established the "sneaking-ligand" approach which is based on multimodular recombinant fusion proteins that consist of three modules connected with serine-glycine linkers. Module one is responsible for receptor-mediated endocytosis; module two supports translocation into the cytoplasm so that the effector module three can interact with its binding partner in the cytoplasm. For NF-κB inhibition, we described an NF-κB inhibitor that targets selectively the activated endothelium via an oligopeptide motif. Upon E-selectin-mediated endocytosis, the Pseudomonas exotoxin A domain II (ETAII) translocates the NEMO-binding peptide to the cytoplasm interfering with IκB kinase complex assembly. Inflammatory autoimmune diseases are triggered, but also resolved by a variety of cell types. Therefore, the inhibition of NF-κB should be restricted to those cells that are crucially involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. A general blockade of NF-κB may result in severe immunosuppression and possibly in organ dysfunction or damage. The "sneaking-ligand" approach could minimize the risks of therapeutic interventions and identify disease-relevant cell types. Here we describe the recombinant expression and purification of the E-selectin-specific "sneaking-ligand construct" (SLC1) and its ability to inhibit cytokine-induced NF-κB activation in vitro. PMID:25736772

The Corinth rift, Greece, is one of the regions with highest strain rates in the Euro-Mediterranean area and as such it has long been identified as a site of major importance for earthquake studies in Europe (20 years of research by the Corinth Rift Laboratory and 4 years of in-depth studies by the ANR-SISCOR project). This enhanced knowledge, acquired in particular, in the western part of the Gulf of Corinth, an area about 50 by 40 km, between the city of Patras to the west and the city of Aigion to the east, provides an excellent opportunity to compare fault-based and classical seismotectonic approaches currently used in seismic hazard assessment studies. A homogeneous earthquake catalogue was first constructed for the Greek territory based on two existing earthquake catalogues available for Greece (National Observatory of Athens and Thessaloniki). In spite of numerous documented damaging earthquakes, only a limited amount of macroseismic intensity data points are available in the existing databases for the damaging earthquakes affecting the west Corinth rift region. A re-interpretation of the macroseismic intensity field for numerous events was thus conducted, following an in-depth analysis of existing and newly found documentation (for details see Rovida et al. EGU2014-6346). In parallel, the construction of a comprehensive database of all relevant geological, geodetical and geophysical information (available in the literature and recently collected within the ANR-SISCOR project), allowed proposing rupture geometries for the different fault-systems identified in the study region. The combination of the new earthquake parameters and the newly defined fault geometries, together with the existing published paleoseismic data, allowed proposing a suite of rupture scenarios including the activation of multiple fault segments. The methodology used to achieve this goal consisted in setting up a logic tree that reflected the opinion of all the members of the ANR

I present an account of classical genetics to challenge theory-biased approaches in the philosophy of science. Philosophers typically assume that scientific knowledge is ultimately structured by explanatory reasoning and that research programs in well-established sciences are organized around efforts to fill out a central theory and extend its explanatory range. In the case of classical genetics, philosophers assume that the knowledge was structured by T. H. Morgan's theory of transmission and that research throughout the later 1920s, 30s, and 40s was organized around efforts to further validate, develop, and extend this theory, I show that classical genetics was structured by an integration of explanatory reasoning (associated with the transmission theory) and investigative strategies (such as the 'genetic approach'). The investigative strategies, which have been overlooked in historical and philosophical accounts, were as important as the so-called laws of Mendelian genetics. By the later 1920s, geneticists of the Morgan school were no longer organizing research around the goal of explaining inheritance patterns; rather, they were using genetics to investigate a range of biological phenomena that extended well beyond the explanatory domain of transmission theories. Theory-biased approaches in history and philosophy of science fail to reveal the overall structure of scientific knowledge and obscure the way it functions. PMID:15682554

Niels Bohr famously insisted on the indispensability of what he termed "classical concepts." In the context of the decoherence program, on the other hand, it has become fashionable to talk about the "dynamical emergence of classicality" from the quantum formalism alone. Does this mean that decoherence challenges Bohr's dictum—for example, that classical concepts do not need to be assumed but can be derived? In this paper we'll try to shed some light down the murky waters where formalism and philosophy cohabitate. To begin, we'll clarify the notion of classicality in the decoherence description. We'll then discuss Bohr's and Heisenberg's take on the quantum—classical problem and reflect on different meanings of the terms "classicality" and "classical concepts" in the writings of Bohr and his followers. This analysis will allow us to put forward some tentative suggestions for how we may better understand the relation between decoherence-induced classicality and Bohr's classical concepts.

We study the absorption and emission electronic spectra in an aqueous solution of N-methyl-6-oxyquinolinium betaine (MQ), an interesting dye characterized by a large change of polarity and H-bond ability between the ground (S0) and the excited (S1) states. To that end we compare alternative approaches based either on explicit solvent models and density functional theory (DFT)/molecular-mechanics (MM) calculations or on DFT calculations on clusters models embedded in a polarizable continuum (PCM). In the first approach (ClMD), the spectrum is computed according to the classical Franck-Condon principle, from the dispersion of the time-dependent (TD)-DFT vertical transitions at selected snapshots of molecular dynamics (MD) on the initial state. In the cluster model (Qst) the spectrum is simulated by computing the quantum vibronic structure, estimating the inhomogeneous broadening from state-specific TD-DFT/PCM solvent reorganization energies. While both approaches provide absorption and emission spectral shapes in nice agreement with experiment, the Stokes shift is perfectly reproduced by Qst calculations if S0 and S1 clusters are selected on the grounds of the MD trajectory. Furthermore, Qst spectra better fit the experimental line shape, mostly in absorption. Comparison of the predictions of the two approaches is very instructive: the positions of Qst and ClMD spectra are shifted due to the different solvent models and the ClMD spectra are narrower than the Qst ones, because MD underestimates the width of the vibrational density of states of the high-frequency modes coupled to the electronic transition. On the other hand, both Qst and ClMD approaches highlight that the solvent has multiple and potentially opposite effects on the spectral width, so that the broadening due to solute-solvent vibrations and electrostatic interaction with bulk solvent is (partially) counterbalanced by a narrowing of the contribution due to the solute vibrational modes. Qst analysis

We explore an instantaneous decoherence correction (IDC) approach for the decoherence and energy relaxation in the quantum-classical dynamics of charge transport in organic semiconducting crystals. These effects, originating from environmental fluctuations, are essential ingredients of the carrier dynamics. The IDC is carried out by measurement-like operations in the adiabatic representation. While decoherence is inherent in the IDC, energy relaxation is taken into account by considering the detailed balance through the introduction of energy-dependent reweighing factors, which could be either Boltzmann (IDC-BM) or Miller-Abrahams (IDC-MA) type. For a non-diagonal electron-phonon coupling model, it is shown that IDC tends to enhance diffusion while energy relaxation weakens this enhancement. As expected, both the IDC-BM and IDC-MA achieve a near-equilibrium distribution at finite temperatures in the diffusion process, while in the Ehrenfest dynamics the electronic system tends to infinite temperature limit. The resulting energy relaxation times with the two kinds of factors lie in different regimes and exhibit different dependences on temperature, decoherence time, and electron-phonon coupling strength, due to different dominant relaxation processes.

Discusses classical theory as a modernist endeavor to apprehend the phenomenon of "unity of disunity." Presents three ways that classical theory approaches the philosophy views of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber. Concludes that postmodernism validates the relevancy of classical theory. (CFR)

In a previous study [F. A. Shakib and G. Hanna, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 044122 (2014)], we investigated a model proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction via the mixed quantum-classical Liouville (MQCL) approach and found that the trajectories spend the majority of their time on the mean of two coherently coupled adiabatic potential energy surfaces. This suggested a need for mean surface evolution to accurately simulate observables related to ultrafast PCET processes. In this study, we simulate the time-dependent populations of the three lowest adiabatic states in the ET-PT (i.e., electron transfer preceding proton transfer) version of the same PCET model via the MQCL approach and compare them to the exact quantum results and those obtained via the fewest switches surface hopping (FSSH) approach. We find that the MQCL population profiles are in good agreement with the exact quantum results and show a significant improvement over the FSSH results. All of the mean surfaces are shown to play a direct role in the dynamics of the state populations. Interestingly, our results indicate that the population transfer to the second-excited state can be mediated by dynamics on the mean of the ground and second-excited state surfaces, as part of a sequence of nonadiabatic transitions that bypasses the first-excited state surface altogether. This is made possible through nonadiabatic transitions between different mean surfaces, which is the manifestation of coherence transfer in MQCL dynamics. We also investigate the effect of the strength of the coupling between the proton/electron and the solvent coordinate on the state population dynamics. Drastic changes in the population dynamics are observed, which can be understood in terms of the changes in the potential energy surfaces and the nonadiabatic couplings. Finally, we investigate the state population dynamics in the PT-ET (i.e., proton transfer preceding electron transfer) and concerted versions of the model. The PT

Quantum electrodynamics is complex and its associated mathematics can appear overwhelming for those not trained in this field. We describe semi-classicalapproaches that can be used to obtain a more intuitive physical feel for several QED processes including electro-statics, Compton scattering, pair annihilation, the anomalous magnetic moment, and the Lamb shift, that could be taught easily to undergraduate students. Any physicist who brings their laptop to the talk will be able to build spread sheets in less than 10 minutes to calculate g/2 =1.001160 and a Lamb shift of 1057 MHz.

The distribution and speciation of elements along a stream subjected to neutralised acid mine drainage (NAMD) effluent waters (Mátra Mountain, Hungary; Toka stream) were studied by a multi-methodological approach: dissolved and particulate fractions of elements were determined by HR-ICPMS, whereas speciation was carried out by DGT, supported by speciation modelling performed by Visual MINTEQ. Before the NAMD discharge, the Toka is considered as a pristine stream, with averages of dissolved concentrations of elements lower than world averages. A considerable increase of element concentrations caused by effluent water inflow is followed by a sharp or gradual concentration decrease. A large difference between total and dissolved concentrations was found for Fe, Al, Pb, Cu, Zn and As in effluent water and at the first downstream site, with high correlation factors between elements in particulate fraction, indicating their common behaviour, governed by the formation of ferri(hydr)oxides (co)precipitates. In-situ speciation by the DGT technique revealed that Zn, Cd, Ni, Co, Mn and U were predominantly present as a labile, potentially bioavailable fraction (>90%). The formation of strong complexes with dissolved organic matter (DOM) resulted in a relatively low DGT-labile concentration of Cu (42%), while low DGT-labile concentrations of Fe (5%) and Pb (12%) were presumably caused by their existence in colloidal (particulate) fraction which is not accessible to DGT. Except for Fe and Pb, a very good agreement between DGT-labile concentrations and those predicted by the applied speciation model was obtained, with an average correlation factor of 0.96. This study showed that the in-situ DGT technique in combination with model-predicted speciation and classical analysis of samples could provide a reasonable set of data for the assessment of the water quality status (WQS), as well as for the more general study of overall behaviour of the elements in natural waters subjected

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of age, time period, and birth cohorts with dengue fever/dengue hemorrhagic fever (DF/DHF) in Bangkok, Thailand over the period 1981-2000. The age group at greatest risk for DF/DHF was 5-9 years old. The period effect shows a remittent pattern, with significant increases in 1986-1990 and 1996-2000. The birth cohort group showed a significant decreasing trend from the 1961-1965 group to the 1991-1995 group (R2 = 0.7620) with a decreasing rate of 0.1. We concluded that the temporal trend of DF/DHF is decreasing; especially for DHF. PMID:15916090

We present a Mathematica package for simulation of spectral-angular distributions and energy spectra of planar channeling radiation of relativistic electrons and positrons channeled along major crystallographic planes of a diamond-structure or tungsten single crystal. The program is based on the classical theory of channeling radiation which has been successfully applied to study planar channeling of light charged particles at energies higher than 100 MeV. Continuous potentials for different planes of diamond, Si, Ge and W single crystals are calculated using the Doyle-Turner approximation to the atomic scattering factor and taking thermal vibrations of the crystal atoms into account. Numerical methods are applied to solve the classical one-dimensional equation of motion. The code is designed to calculate the trajectories, velocities and accelerations of electrons (positrons) channeled by the planar continuous potential. In the framework of classical electrodynamics, these data allow realistic simulations of spectral-angular distributions and energy spectra of planar channeling radiation. Since the generated output is quantitative, the results of calculation may be useful, e.g., for setup configuration and crystal alignment in channeling experiments, for the study of the dependence of channeling radiation on the input parameters of particle beams with respect to the crystal orientation, but also for the simulation of positron production by means of pair creation what is mandatory for the design of efficient positron sources necessary in high-energy and collider physics. Although the classical theory of channeling is well established for long time, there is no adequate library program for simulation of channeling radiation up to now, which is commonly available, sufficiently simple and effective to employ and, therefore, of benefit as for special investigations as for a quick overview of basic features of this type of radiation.

The classical vacuum of physics is not empty, but contains a distinctive pattern of electromagnetic fields. Discovery of the vacuum, thermal spectrum, classical electron theory, zero-point spectrum, and effects of acceleration are discussed. Connection between thermal radiation and the classical vacuum reveals unexpected unity in the laws of…

It is pointed out that the classical phase space distribution in action-angle (a-a) variables obtained from a Wigner function depends on how the calculation is carried out: if one computes the standard Wigner function in Cartesian variables (p, x), and then replaces p and x by their expressions in terms of a-a variables, one obtains a different result than if the Wigner function is computed directly in terms of the a-a variables. Furthermore, the latter procedure gives a result more consistent with classical and semiclassical theory-e.g., by incorporating the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization condition (quantum states defined by integer values of the action variable) as well as the Heisenberg correspondence principle for matrix elements of an operator between such states-and has also been shown to be more accurate when applied to electronically non-adiabatic applications as implemented within the recently developed symmetrical quasi-classical (SQC) Meyer-Miller (MM) approach. Moreover, use of the Wigner function (obtained directly) in a-a variables shows how our standard SQC/MM approach can be used to obtain off-diagonal elements of the electronic density matrix by processing in a different way the same set of trajectories already used (in the SQC/MM methodology) to obtain the diagonal elements. PMID:27586896

We report on the magnetic properties of the two-sublattice manganese chain MnMn(CDTA)·7H 2O. In view of the structural features, this compound may give rise to a novel type of one-dimensional magnetic network formed by a chain of exchange coupled triangles. A classical-spin model that considers two magnetic sites coupled through two different and isotropic exchange interactions is developed and used in order to analyze the magnetic properties of this compound. The possibility of having a spinfrustration is also examined.

The Gordian knot of density-functional theories for classical molecular liquids remains finding an accurate free-energy functional in terms of the densities of the atomic sites of the molecules. Following Kohn and Sham, we show how to solve this problem by considering noninteracting molecules in a set of effective potentials. This shift in perspective leads to an accurate and computationally tractable description in terms of simple three-dimensional functions. We also treat both the linear- and saturation- dielectric responses of polar systems, presenting liquid hydrogen chloride as a case study. PMID:19113431

The vector properties of reaction O(1D)+HBr→OH+Br on the potential energy surface (PES) of X1A' ground singlet state are studied by using the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) theory. The polarization-dependent differential cross sections (PDDCSs), the average rotational alignment factor , as well as the distributions reflecting vector correlations are also computed. The analysis of the results shows that the alignment and the orientation distribution of the rotation angular momentum vector of product molecule OH is influenced by both the effect of heavy—light—heavy (HLH) type mass combination and the deep well of PES.

Discusses why the classics can be difficult to teach in high schools. Offers suggestions for making difficult literature more approachable for high school students by scaffolding students' engagement with classic texts; building background knowledge; developing vocabulary; facilitating the reading of the text; and through enrichment an extension.…

Summarizes underlying tenets and policy implications of new classical and new Keynesian macroeconomics. Compares new approaches with orthodox Keynesian and monetarist schools of thought. Identifies the fundamental difference between new classical and new Keynesian models as the assumption regarding the speed of wage and price adjustment following…

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of repeated sprinting bouts in elite football. Furthermore, the construct validity of current tests assessing repeated-sprint ability (RSA) was analysed using information of sprinting sequences as they actually occurred during match-play. Sprinting behaviour in official competition was analysed for 19 games of the German national team between August 2012 and June 2014. A sprinting threshold was individually calculated based on the peak velocity reached during in-game sprinting. Players performed 17.2 ± 3.9 sprints per game and during the entire 19 games a total of 35 bouts of repeated sprinting (a minimum of three consecutive sprints with a recovery duration <30 s separating efforts). This averages one bout of repeated sprinting per player every 463 min. No general decrement in maximal sprinting speed was observed during bouts with up to five consecutive sprints. Results of the present study question the importance of RSA as it is classically defined. They indicate that shorter accelerations are more important in game-specific situations which do not reach speeds necessary to qualify them as sprints. The construct validity of classic tests of RSA in football is not supported by these observations. PMID:26580089

In this paper, a model is introduced to investigate the interaction between a three-level atom and one-mode of the radiation field. The atomic motion and the classical homogenous gravitational field are taken into consideration. For this purpose, we first introduce a set of new atomic operators obeying an su(3) algebraic structure to derive an effective Hamiltonian for the system under consideration. By solving the Schrödinger equation in the interaction picture, the exact solution is given when the atom and the field are initially prepared in excited state and coherent state, respectively. The influences of the gravity parameter on the collapses-revivals phenomena, the atomic momentum diffusion, the Mandel Q-parameter, the normal squeezing phenomena and the coherent properties for the considered system are examined. It is found that the gravity parameter has important effects on the properties of these phenomena.

Background: The aim of this study is to verify the effects of the combined and classic training of different isometric rates of force development (RFD) parameters of legs. Materials and Methods: Three groups of female athletes was tested: Experimental group (N = 12), classically trained group (N = 11), and control group (N = 20) of athletes. The isometric “standing leg extension” and “Rise on Toes” tests were conducted to evaluate the maximal force, time necessary time to reach it and the RFD analyzed at 100 ms, 180 ms, 250 ms from the onset, and 50-100% of its maximal result. Results: The maximal RFD of legs and calves are dominant explosive parameters. Special training enhanced the RFD of calves of GROUPSPEC at 100 ms (P = 0.05), at 180 ms (P = 0.039), at 250 ms (P = 0.039), at 50% of the Fmax (P = 0.031) and the Fmax (P = 0.05). Domination of GROUPSPEC toward GROUPCLASS and GROUPCONTROL is in case of legs at 100 ms (P = 0.04); at 180 ms (P = 0.04); at 250 ms (P = 0.00); at 50% of the Fmax (P = 0.01) and at the Fmax (P = 0.00); in case of calves at 100 ms (P = 0.07); 180 ms (P = 0.001); at 250 ms (P = 0.00); at 50% of the Fmax (P = 0.00) and at Fmax (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Dominant explosive factors are maximal RFD of leg extensors and calves, and legs at 250ms. Specific training enhanced explosiveness of calves of GROUPSPEC general and partial domination of GROUPSPEC by 87% over GROUPCLASS, and 35% over GROUPCONTROL. PMID:24497853

Classical density-modification techniques (as opposed to statistical approaches) offer a computationally cheap method for improving phase estimates in order to provide a good electron-density map for model building. The rise of statistical methods has lead to a shift in focus away from the classicalapproaches; as a result, some recent developments have not made their way into classical density-modification software. This paper describes the application of some recent tech­niques, including most importantly the use of prior phase information in the likelihood estimation of phase errors within a classical density-modification framework. The resulting software gives significantly better results than comparable classical methods, while remaining nearly two orders of magnitude faster than statistical methods. PMID:20383000

Sponsored by a consortium of 30 American universities, Rome's Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies offers a year of study to American undergraduate classics majors. Instructors are also American and normally stay only a year; teaching assistants are always ex-students of the center. Extensive field trips are an important part of the…

We describe fermions in terms of a classical statistical ensemble. The states {tau} of this ensemble are characterized by a sequence of values one or zero or a corresponding set of two-level observables. Every classical probability distribution can be associated to a quantum state for fermions. If the time evolution of the classical probabilities p{sub {tau}} amounts to a rotation of the wave function q{sub {tau}}(t)={+-}{radical}(p{sub {tau}}(t)), we infer the unitary time evolution of a quantum system of fermions according to a Schroedinger equation. We establish how such classical statistical ensembles can be mapped to Grassmann functional integrals. Quantum field theories for fermions arise for a suitable time evolution of classical probabilities for generalized Ising models.

We introduce a notion of the entanglement transformation rate to characterize the asymptotic comparability of two multipartite pure entangled states under stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC). For two well known SLOCC inequivalent three-qubit states |GHZ⟩=(1/2)(|000⟩+|111⟩) and |W⟩=(1/3)(|100⟩+|010⟩+|001⟩), we show that the entanglement transformation rate from |GHZ⟩ to |W⟩ is exactly 1. That means that we can obtain one copy of the W state from one copy of the Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state by SLOCC, asymptotically. We then apply similar techniques to obtain a lower bound on the entanglement transformation rates from an N-partite GHZ state to a class of Dicke states, and prove the tightness of this bound for some special cases which naturally generalize the |W⟩ state. A new lower bound on the tensor rank of the matrix permanent is also obtained by evaluating the tensor rank of Dicke states. PMID:24815624

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles are used as negative contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging: owing to their large magnetic moment the water proton spins are dephased, which accelerates the nuclear magnetic relaxation of an aqueous sample containing these particles. Transverse and longitudinal relaxation times depend on several parameters of the nanoparticles such as radius and magnetization and on experimental parameters such as the static magnetic field or echo time. In this work, we introduce a new simulation methodology, using a classical formalism, allowing the simulation of the NMR signal during transverse and longitudinal relaxation induced by superparamagnetic particles in an aqueous solution, which, to our knowledge has never been done before. Nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion profiles are obtained for a wide range of nanoparticle radii and magnetizations. The results can be classified in two regimes—the well-known motional averaging and static regimes. This generalizes previous studies focusing on transverse relaxation at high magnetic field (larger than 1 T). Simulation results correspond to analytical theories in their validity range and so far unknown dependences of the relaxation with magnetization and radii of the NMR dispersions profiles are observed, which could be used to characterize experimental samples containing large superparamagnetic particles.

Two different methods manipulating spectrophotometric data have been developed, validated and compared. One is capable of removing the signal of any interfering components at the selected wavelength of the component of interest (univariate). The other includes more variables and extracts maximum information to determine the component of interest in the presence of other components (multivariate). The applied methods are smart, simple, accurate, sensitive, precise and capable of determination of spectrally overlapped antihypertensives; hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), irbesartan (IRB) and candesartan (CAN). Mean centering of ratio spectra (MCR) and concentration residual augmented classical least-squares method (CRACLS) were developed and their efficiency was compared. CRACLS is a simple method that is capable of extracting the pure spectral profiles of each component in a mixture. Correlation was calculated between the estimated and pure spectra and was found to be 0.9998, 0.9987 and 0.9992 for HCT, IRB and CAN, respectively. The methods were successfully determined the three components in bulk powder, laboratory-prepared mixtures, and combined dosage forms. The results obtained were compared statistically with each other and to those of the official methods.

DB289 is the first oral drug shown in clinical trials to have efficacy in treating African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). Mild liver toxicity was noted but was not treatment limiting. However, development of DB289 was terminated when several treated subjects developed severe kidney injury, a liability not predicted from preclinical testing. We tested the hypothesis that the kidney safety liability of DB289 would be detected in a mouse diversity panel (MDP) comprised of 34 genetically diverse inbred mouse strains. MDP mice received 10 days of oral treatment with DB289 or vehicle and classical renal biomarkers blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (sCr), as well as urine biomarkers of kidney injury were measured. While BUN and sCr remained within reference ranges, marked elevations were observed for kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) in the urine of sensitive mouse strains. KIM-1 elevations were not always coincident with elevations in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), suggesting that renal injury was not linked to hepatic injury. Genome-wide association analyses of KIM-1 elevations indicated that genes participating in cholesterol and lipid biosynthesis and transport, oxidative stress, and cytokine release may play a role in DB289 renal injury. Taken together, the data resulting from this study highlight the utility of using an MDP to predict clinically relevant toxicities, to identify relevant toxicity biomarkers that may translate into the clinic, and to identify potential mechanisms underlying toxicities. In addition, the sensitive mouse strains identified in this study may be useful in screening next-in-class compounds for renal injury. PMID:22940726

The incompatibility between the treatment of time in the classical and in the quantum theory results in the so-called problem of time in canonical quantum gravity. For this reason, attempts have been made to devise algorithms of quantization which accomodate the covariance of the classical theory from the outset. One of the most prominent of these attempts is based on the notion of continuous histories (Isham and Linden) in the context of the consistent histories approach to quantum theory (Griffiths, Omnes, Gell-Mann and Hartle). By the term continuous histories it is implied that the canonical fields and the symplectic structure of the theory depend on time as well as space. The aim of this thesis (in the form it was submitted to the University of London, February 2000) is to show that, even at the purely classical level, a history approach has several advantages (compared to its equal-time counterpart) when it comes to discussing spacetime issues. This is illustrated here by reframing and generalizing the derivation of geometrodynamics from first principles (Hojman, Kuchar, Teitelboim) in the language of the history phase space.

Describes how satellites and other tools of space technology have transformed classical geodesy into the science of space geodynamics. The establishment and the activities of the French Center for Geodynamic and Astronomical Research Studies (CERGA) are also included. (HM)

The specialised medical knowledge about dancers' injuries is negligible compared with that which surrounds sports medicine. The author discusses his experience in the management of more than 2000 injuries sustained by dancers of classical ballet. PMID:6151832

An alternative picture of classical many body mechanics is proposed. In this picture particles possess individual kinematics but are deprived from individual dynamics. Dynamics exists only for the many particle system as a whole. The theory is complete and allows to determine the trajectories of each particle. It is proposed to use our picture as a classical prototype for a realistic theory of confined particles.

Exact solutions in the classical Yang-Mills-Wong theory enable explaining a number of enigmatic classical features of subnuclear realm. Moreover, they reveal some unexpected quantum features of this classical treatment.

The present state of modeling radio-induced effects at the cellular level does not account for the microscopic inhomogeneity of the nucleus from the non-aqueous contents (i.e. proteins, DNA) by approximating the entire cellular nucleus as a homogenous medium of water. Charged particle track-structure calculations utilizing this approximation are therefore neglecting to account for approximately 30% of the molecular variation within the nucleus. To truly understand what happens when biological matter is irradiated, charged particle track-structure calculations need detailed knowledge of the secondary electron cascade, resulting from interactions with not only the primary biological component—water--but also the non-aqueous contents, down to very low energies. This paper presents our work on a generic approach for calculating low-energy interaction cross-sections between incident charged particles and individual molecules. The purpose of our work is to develop a self-consistent computational method for predicting molecule-specific interaction cross-sections, such as the component molecules of DNA and proteins (i.e. nucleotides and amino acids), in the very low-energy regime. These results would then be applied in a track-structure code and thereby reduce the homogenous water approximation. The present methodology—inspired by seeking a combination of the accuracy of quantum mechanics and the scalability, robustness, and flexibility of Monte Carlo methods—begins with the calculation of a solution to the many-body Schrödinger equation and proceeds to use Monte Carlo methods to calculate the perturbations in the internal electron field to determine the interaction processes, such as ionization and excitation. As a test of our model, the approach is applied to a water molecule in the same method as it would be applied to a nucleotide or amino acid and compared with the low-energy cross-sections from the GEANT4-DNA physics package of the Geant4 simulation toolkit

We consider classical models of the kicked rotor type, with piecewise linear kicking potentials designed so that momentum changes only by multiples of a given constant. Their dynamics display quasilocalization of momentum, or quadratic growth of energy, depending on the arithmetic nature of the constant. Such purely classical features mimic paradigmatic features of the quantum kicked rotor, notably dynamical localization in momentum, or quantum resonances. We present a heuristic explanation, based on a classical phase space generalization of a well-known argument, that maps the quantum kicked rotor on a tight-binding model with disorder. Such results suggest reconsideration of generally accepted views that dynamical localization and quantum resonances are a pure result of quantum coherence. PMID:25379918

At most universities, including the University of Colorado, upper-division physics courses are taught using a traditional lecture approach that does not make use of many of the instructional techniques that have been found to improve student learning at the introductory level. We are transforming several upper-division courses using principles of active engagement and learning theory, guided by the results of observations, interviews, and analysis of student work at CU and elsewhere. In this talk I outline these transformations, including the development of faculty consensus learning goals, clicker questions, tutorials, modified homeworks, and more. We present evidence of the effectiveness of these transformations relative to traditional courses, based on student grades, interviews, and through research-based assessments of student conceptual mastery and student attitudes. Our results suggest that many of the tools that have been effective in introductory courses are effective for our majors, and that further research is warranted in the upper-division environment. (See www.colorado.edu/sei/departments/physics.htm for materials)

Presents a classical demonstration of polarization for high school students. The initial state of this model, which demonstrates the important concepts of the optical and quantum problems, was developed during the 1973 summer program on lecture demonstration at the U.S. Naval Academy. (HM)

"Children's Classics," a 1947 article by Alice M. Jordan reprinted from "The Horn Book Magazine," examines the dynamics and appeal of some of the most famous books for young readers, including "Alice in Wonderland,""The Wind in the Willows,""Robinson Crusoe," and "Andersen's Fairy Tales." Paul Hein's annotated bibliography, a revision of Jordan's…

They seem the perfect bookends for the social psychologist's collection of "classics" of the field. Two volumes, nearly identical in shape and weight and exactly a century old in 2008--each professing to usher "social psychology" into the world as they both place the hybrid expression square in their titles but then proceed to stake out the field…

The observations of classical Cepheids are reviewed. The main progress that has been made is summarized and some of the problems yet to be solved are discussed. The problems include color excesses, calibration of color, duplicity, ultraviolet colors, temperature-color relations, mass discrepancies, and radius determination.

The articles in this journal issue suggest techniques for classroom use of literature that has "withstood the test of time." The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "The Storytelling Connection for the Classics" (Mary Ellen Martin); (2) "Elizabeth Bennet: A Liberated Woman" (Geneva Marking); (3) "Hawthorne: A Study in…

Describes young adult novels that may prove to be classics of the genre. Discusses "The "Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier, "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton, "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare, and "On Fortune's Wheel" by Cynthia Voight. (HB)

Describes one teacher's methods for introducing to secondary English students the concepts of Classicism and Romanticism in relation to pictures of gardens, architecture, music, and literary works. Outlines how the unit leads to a writing assignment based on collected responses over time. (HB)

Discussed are techniques of presentation and solution of the Classical Cake Problem. A frosted cake with a square base is to be cut into n pieces with the volume of cake and frosting the same for each piece. Needed are minimal geometric concepts and the formula for the volume of a prism. (JP)

Designed for students with little or no background in classical literature, this book introduces the Greek and Roman myths of creation, myths of the gods, Greek sagas and local legends, and presents contemporary theories about the myths. Drawing on Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Vergil, and others, the book provides many translations and paraphrases of…

America's few Black classics professors have overcome contempt and criticism to contribute a unique perspective to the study of the ancient world. Dr. Patrice Rankine, an associate professor from Purdue University, has grown used to the irony. As one of the few Black classicists teaching at an American university, he has drawn plenty of skepticism…

The derivation of the brackets among coordinates and momenta for classical constrained systems is a necessary step toward their quantization. Here we present a new approach for the determination of the classical brackets which does neither require Dirac’s formalism nor the symplectic method of Faddeev and Jackiw. This approach is based on the computation of the brackets between the constants of integration of the exact solutions of the equations of motion. From them all brackets of the dynamical variables of the system can be deduced in a straightforward way.

We consider a classical gauge theory on a principal fiber bundle P → X in the case where its structure group G is reduced to a subgroup H in the presence of classical Higgs fields described by global sections of the quotient fiber bundle P/H → X. We show that matter fields with the exact symmetry group H in such a theory are described by sections of the composition fiber bundle Y → P/H → X, where Y → P/H is the fiber bundle with the structure group H, and the Lagrangian of these sections is factored by virtue of the vertical covariant differential determined by a connection on the fiber bundle Y → P/H.

As a 26-year-old English teacher in 1958, Chinua Achebe had no idea that the book he was writing would become a literary classic, not only in Africa but also throughout the world. He could only try to articulate the feelings he had for his countrymen and women. Achebe had a burning desire to tell the true story of Africa and African humanity. The…

In the sixties, the first author and by P. Savić and R. Kašanin started developing a mean-field theory of dense matter. It is based on the Coulomb interaction, supplemented by a microscopic selection rule and a set of experimentally founded postulates. Applications of the theory range from the calculation of models of planetary internal structure to DAC experiments.

Most of the information in the moral development literature depends on Theories of Piaget and Kohlberg. The theoretical contribution by Gilligan and Turiel are not widely known and not much resource is available in Turkish. For this reason introducing and discussing the theories of Gilligan and Turiel and more comprehensive perspective for moral…

The paper presents some of our advances in the study and development of optical choppers. The modulation functions we have studied for classical choppers are pointed out - for top-hat (constant intensity) light beam distributions. The eclipse choppers that, to the best of our knowledge we have introduced are also presented. We thus point out the differences between the profiles of light (laser) impulses produced by the classical devices (with rotating wheels with windows with linear edges) and the novel eclipse choppers - under patent (with windows with circular edges that produce for the circular-shaped section of the laser beam in the plane of the wheel a planetary eclipse-like effect - from which the name we have proposed for this type of device). The most convenient (from the technological and from the cost point of view) solution, with wheels with circular holes is also obtained. The advantages and the drawbacks of the various devices are discussed. Both a theoretical and an experimental approach are considered. The latter is done on a chopper module we have constructed, with prototype chopper wheels we have designed and manufactured. Throughout the study, top-hat laser beams are considered, as they are most used in laser manufacturing applications. The perspective of conducting the study on other light beams distributions (e.g., Gaussian) is also pointed out.

Quantum theory has been unquestionably successful at describing physics at the atomic scale. However, it becomes more difficult to apply as the system size grows. On the other hand, classical physics breaks down at sufficiently short length scales but is clearly correct at larger distances. The purpose of methods such as QM/MM is to gain the advantages of both quantum and classical regimes: quantum theory should provide accuracy at the shortest scales, and classical theory, with its somewhat more tractable computational demands, allows results to be computed for systems that would be inaccessible with a purely quantum approach. This strategy will be most effective when one knows with good accuracy the length scale at which quantum calculations are no longer necessary and classical calculations are sufficient. To this end, we have performed both classical and quantum calculations for systems comprising a small number of atoms for which experimental data is also available. The classical calculations are fully exact; the quantum calculations are at the MP4(SDTQ)/aug-cc-pV5Z and CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pV5Z levels. The precision of both sets of calculations along with the existence of experimental results allows us to draw conclusions about the range of utility of the respective calculations. This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NLM and utilized the computational resources of the NIH HPC Biowulf cluster.

This paper follows in the tradition of direct-action versions of electromagnetism having the aim of avoiding a balance of infinities wherein a mechanical mass offsets an infinite electromagnetic mass so as to arrive at a finite observed value. However, the direct-action approach ultimately failed in that respect because its initial exclusion of self-action was later found to be untenable in the relativistic domain. Pursing the same end, this paper examines instead a version of electromagnetism wherein mechanical action is excluded and self-action is retained. It is shown that the resulting theory is effectively interacting due to the presence of infinite forces. A vehicle for the investigation is a pair of classical point charges in a positronium-like arrangement for which the orbits are found to be self-sustaining and naturally quantized.

We seek to illustrate Fano interference in a classical coupled oscillator by using classical analogues of the atom-laser interaction. We present an analogy between the dressed state picture of coherent atom-laser interaction and a classical coupled oscillator. The Autler-Townes splitting due to the atom-laser interaction is analogous to the…

A classical model of the Schrodinger's wave packet is considered. The problem of finding the energy levels corresponds to a classical manipulation game. It leads to an approximate but non-perturbative method of finding the eigenvalues, exploring the bifurcations of classical trajectories. The role of squeezing turns out decisive in the generation of the discrete spectra.

The key ideas of the environment-induced decoherence approach are reviewed. Application of decoherence to the transition from quantum to classical in open quantum systems with chaotic classical analogs is described. The arrow of time is, in this context, a result of the information loss to the correlations with the environment. The asymptotic rate of entropy production (which is reached quickly, on the dynamical timescale) is independent of the details of the coupling of the quantum system to the environment, and is set by the Lyapunov exponents. We also briefly outline the existential interpretation of quantum mechanics, justifying the slogan ``No information without representation.``

We study chaos in the classical limit of the matrix quantum mechanical system describing D0-brane dynamics. We determine a precise value of the largest Lyapunov exponent, and, with less precision, calculate the entire spectrum of Lyapunov exponents. We verify that these approach a smooth limit as N → ∞. We show that a classical analog of scrambling occurs with fast scrambling scaling, t ∗ ˜ log S. These results confirm the k-locality property of matrix mechanics discussed by Sekino and Susskind.

The key ideas of the environment-induced decoherence approach are reviewed. Application of decoherence to the transition from quantum to classical in open quantum systems with chaotic classical analogs is described. The arrow of time is, in this context, a result of the information loss to the correlations with the environment. The asymptotic rate of entropy production (which is reached quickly, on the dynamical timescale) is independent of the details of the coupling of the quantum system to the environment, and is set by the Lyapunov exponents. We also briefly outline the existential interpretation of quantum mechanics, justifying the slogan, no information without representation.

The aim of these notes is to provide a self-contained review of why it is generically a problem when a solution of a theory possesses ghost fields among the perturbation modes. We define what a ghost field is and we show that its presence is associated with a classical instability whenever the ghost field interacts with standard fields. We then show that the instability is more severe at quantum level, and that perturbative ghosts can exist only in low energy effective theories. However, if we do not consider very ad hoc choices, compatibility with observational constraints implies that low energy effective ghosts can exist only at the price of giving up Lorentz invariance or locality above the cut-off, in which case the cut-off has to be much lower that the energy scales we currently probe in particle colliders. We also comment on the possible role of extra degrees of freedom which break Lorentz invariance spontaneously.

In a quantum theory of gravity spacetime behaves classically when quantum probabilities are high for histories of geometry and field that are correlated in time by the Einstein equation. Probabilities follow from the quantum state. This quantum perspective on classicality has important implications. (a) Classical histories are generally available only in limited patches of the configuration space on which the state lives. (b) In a given patch, states generally predict relative probabilities for an ensemble of possible classical histories. (c) In between patches classical predictability breaks down and is replaced by quantum evolution connecting classical histories in different patches. (d) Classical predictability can break down on scales well below the Planck scale, and with no breakdown in the classical equations of motion. We support and illustrate (a)-(d) by calculating the quantum transition across the de Sitter-like throat connecting asymptotically classical, inflating histories in the no-boundary quantum state. This supplies probabilities for how a classical history on one side transitions and branches into a range of classical histories on the opposite side. We also comment on the implications of (a)-(d) for the dynamics of black holes and eternal inflation.

The fully humanized Lewis-Y carbohydrate specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) IGN311 is currently tested in a passive immunotherapy approach in a clinical phase I trail and therefore regulatory requirements demand qualified assays for product analysis. To demonstrate the functionality of its Fc-region, the capacity of IGN311 to mediate complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) against human breast cancer cells was evaluated. The "classical" radioactive method using chromium-51 and a FACS-based assay were established and qualified according to ICH guidelines. Parameters evaluated were specificity, response function, bias, repeatability (intra-day precision), intermediate precision (operator-time different), and linearity (assay range). In the course of a fully nested design, a four-parameter logistic equation was identified as appropriate calibration model for both methods. For the radioactive assay, the bias ranged from -6.1% to -3.6%. The intermediate precision for future means of duplicate measurements revealed values from 12.5% to 15.9% and the total error (beta-expectation tolerance interval) of the method was found to be <40%. For the FACS-based assay, the bias ranged from -8.3% to 0.6% and the intermediate precision for future means of duplicate measurements revealed values from 4.2% to 8.0%. The total error of the method was found to be <25%. The presented data demonstrate that the FACS-based CDC is more accurate than the radioactive assay. Also, the elimination of radioactivity and the 'real-time' counting of apoptotic cells further justifies the implementation of this method which was subsequently applied for testing the influence of storage at 4 degrees C and 25 degrees C ('stability testing') on the potency of IGN311 drug product. The obtained results demonstrate that the qualified functional assay represents a stability indicating test method. PMID:19250790

Interference is fundamental to wave dynamics and quantum mechanics. The quantum wave properties of particles are exploited in metrology using atom interferometers, allowing for high-precision inertia measurements. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art time standard is based on an interferometric technique known as Ramsey spectroscopy. However, the precision of an interferometer is limited by classical statistics owing to the finite number of atoms used to deduce the quantity of interest. Here we show experimentally that the classical precision limit can be surpassed using nonlinear atom interferometry with a Bose-Einstein condensate. Controlled interactions between the atoms lead to non-classical entangled states within the interferometer; this represents an alternative approach to the use of non-classical input states. Extending quantum interferometry to the regime of large atom number, we find that phase sensitivity is enhanced by 15 per cent relative to that in an ideal classical measurement. Our nonlinear atomic beam splitter follows the 'one-axis-twisting' scheme and implements interaction control using a narrow Feshbach resonance. We perform noise tomography of the quantum state within the interferometer and detect coherent spin squeezing with a squeezing factor of -8.2 dB (refs 11-15). The results provide information on the many-particle quantum state, and imply the entanglement of 170 atoms. PMID:20357767

Tasked with the challenge to build better and better computers, quantum computing and classical computing face the same conundrum: the success of classical computing systems. Small quantum computing systems have been demonstrated, and intermediate-scale systems are on the horizon, capable of calculating numeric results or simulating physical systems far beyond what humans can do by hand. However, to be commercially viable, they must surpass what our wildly successful, highly advanced classical computers can already do. At the same time, those classical computers continue to advance, but those advances are now constrained by thermodynamics, and will soon be limited by the discrete nature of atomic matter and ultimately quantum effects. Technological advances benefit both quantum and classical machinery, altering the competitive landscape. Can we build quantum computing systems that out-compute classical systems capable of some logic gates per month? This article will discuss the interplay in these competing and cooperating technological trends.

This Classic Article is a reprint of the original work by Marshall R. Urist and Basil S. Strates, Bone Morphogenetic Protein. An accompanying biographical sketch of Marshall R. Urist, MD is available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-009-1067-4; a second Classic Article is available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-009-1069-2; and a third Classic Article is available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-009-1070-9. The Classic Article is copyright 1971 by Sage Publications Inc. Journals and is reprinted with permission from Urist MR, Strates BS. Bone morphogenetic protein. J Dent Res. 1971;50:1392-1406. PMID:19727989

One lemon, an assortment of other fruits and vegetables, a tennis ball, and a Galvanic Skin Response meter are needed to implement this approach to teaching about classical conditioning in introductory psychology courses. (RM)

M51, whose name comes from being the 51st entry in Charles Messier's catalog, is considered to be one of the classic examples of a spiral galaxy. At a distance of about 30 million light-years from Earth, it is also one of the brightest spirals in the night sky. A composite image of M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, shows the majesty of its structure in a dramatic new way through several of NASA's orbiting observatories. X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals point-like sources (purple) that are black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems. Chandra also detects a diffuse glow of hot gas that permeates the space between the stars. Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (green) and infrared emission from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red) both highlight long lanes in the spiral arms that consist of stars and gas laced with dust. A view of M51 with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer telescope shows hot, young stars that produce lots of ultraviolet energy (blue).

The textbook spiral structure is thought be the result of an interaction M51 is experiencing with its close galactic neighbor, NGC 5195, which is seen just above. Some simulations suggest M51's sharp spiral shape was partially caused when NGC 5195 passed through its main disk about 500 million years ago. This gravitational tug of war may also have triggered an increased level of star formation in M51. The companion galaxy's pull would be inducing extra starbirth by compressing gas, jump-starting the process by which stars form.

The two seminal papers that set the theoretical foundation of nonlinear optics were written by Bloembergen and coworkers in 1962. The first one on "Interaction between Light Waves in a Nonlinear Dielectric" by Armstrong, Bloembergen, Ducuing and Pershan1 describes mainly the wave mixing process, aside from discussions on microscopic expressions for nonlinear susceptibilities, local-field corrections, energy relations, and others. The second one on "Light Waves at the Boundary of Nonlinear Media" by Bloembergen and Pershan2 considers the boundary effects on wave mixing. Both papers are clear in concepts, but the mathematical derivations are rather difficult to digest. While most people in nonlinear optics have studied the papers, few have attempted to reproduce the equations in them. Recently, through teaching, I have found that even the derivation of an expression for the transmitted second harmonic field, ET, in a nonlinear uniaxial medium is not so simple. The ABDP paper used the slowly varying amplitude approximation to obtain ET, whereas the BP paper found ET more rigorously by taking the boundary conditions explicitly into account. It is, however, not trivial to see whether the two expressions of ET from the two papers are consistent with each other. This is actually an important issue considering that the result is the basis of all wave mixing problems. As a tribute to Prof. Bloembergen on the occasion of his 70th birday, I take the liberty to review the derivations in these masterpieces, fill in the intermediate steps in the derivations, and discuss the consistency. Hopefully, this could serve, in a small way, as a supplement to the Bloembergen classics in nonlinear optics.

Quantum and classical mechanics are two conceptually and mathematically different theories of physics, and yet they do use the same concept of classical mass that was originally introduced by Newton in his formulation of the laws of dynamics. In this paper, physical consequences of using the classical mass by both theories are explored, and a novel approach that allows formulating fundamental (Galilean invariant) theories of waves and particles without formally introducing the classical mass is presented. In this new formulation, the theories depend only on one common parameter called 'wave mass', which is deduced from experiments for selected elementary particles and for the classical mass of one kilogram. It is shown that quantum theory with the wave mass is independent of the Planck constant and that higher accuracy of performing calculations can be attained by such theory. Natural units in connection with the presented approach are also discussed and justification beyond dimensional analysis is given for the particular choice of such units.

These lecture notes present an introduction to some semi-classical techniques which have applications in nuclear physics. Topics discussed include the WKB method, approaches based on the Feynman path integral, the Gutzwiller trace formula for level density fluctuations and the Thomas-Fermi approximation and the Vlasov equation for many-body problems. There are applications to heavy ion fusion reactions, bremsstrahlung emission in alpha decay and nuclear response functions.

Pembrolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), a key immune-inhibitory molecule expressed on T cells and implicated in CD4+ T-cell exhaustion and tumor immune-escape mechanisms. Classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL) is a unique B-cell malignancy in the sense that malignant Reed-Sternberg (RS) cells represent a small percentage of cells within an extensive immune cell infiltrate. PD-1 ligands are upregulated on RS cells as a consequence of both chromosome 9p24.1 amplification and Epstein-Barr virus infection and by interacting with PD-1 promote an immune-suppressive effect. By augmenting antitumor immune response, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, another monoclonal antibody against PD-1, have shown significant activity in patients with relapsed/refractory cHL as well as an acceptable toxicity profile with immune-related adverse events that are generally manageable. In this review, we explore the rationale for targeting PD-1 in cHL, review the clinical trial results supporting the use of checkpoint inhibitors in this disease, and present future directions for investigation in which this approach may be used. PMID:27147112

Quantum mechanics can emerge from classical statistics. A typical quantum system describes an isolated subsystem of a classical statistical ensemble with infinitely many classical states. The state of this subsystem can be characterized by only a few probabilistic observables. Their expectation values define a density matrix if they obey a 'purity constraint'. Then all the usual laws of quantum mechanics follow, including Heisenberg's uncertainty relation, entanglement and a violation of Bell's inequalities. No concepts beyond classical statistics are needed for quantum physics - the differences are only apparent and result from the particularities of those classical statistical systems which admit a quantum mechanical description. Born's rule for quantum mechanical probabilities follows from the probability concept for a classical statistical ensemble. In particular, we show how the non-commuting properties of quantum operators are associated to the use of conditional probabilities within the classical system, and how a unitary time evolution reflects the isolation of the subsystem. As an illustration, we discuss a classical statistical implementation of a quantum computer.

We show how symmetries of a classical dynamical system can be described in terms of operators that act on the state space for the system. We illustrate our results by considering a number of possible symmetries that a classical dynamical system might have, and for each symmetry we give examples of dynamical systems that do and do not possess that…

Discusses classroom demonstrations of classical conditioning and notes tendencies to misrepresent Pavlov's procedures. Describes the design and construction of the conditioner that is used for demonstrating classical conditioning. Relates how students experience conditioning, generalization, extinction, discrimination, and spontaneous recovery.…

Discusses the construction of an operator formulation of classical mechanics which is directly concerned with wave packets in configuration space and is more similar to that of convential quantum theory than other extant operator formulations of classical mechanics. (Author/HM)

The purpose of this article is to assert that there are classic African American children's books and to identify a sampling of them. The author presents multiple definitions of the term classic based on the responses of children's literature experts and relevant scholarship. Next, the manner in which data were collected and analyzed in regard to…

Almost every female classic galactosemia patient develops primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) as a diet-independent complication of the disease. This is a major concern for patients and their parents, and physicians are often asked about possible options to preserve fertility. Unfortunately, there are no recommendations on fertility preservation in this group. The unique pathophysiology of classic galactosemia with a severely reduced follicle pool at an early age requires an adjusted approach. In this article recommendations for physicians based on current knowledge concerning galactosemia and fertility preservation are made. Fertility preservation is only likely to be successful in very young prepubertal patients. In this group, cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is currently the only available technique. However, this technique is not ready for clinical application, it is considered experimental and reduces the ovarian reserve. Fertility preservation at an early age also raises ethical questions that should be taken into account. In addition, spontaneous conception despite POI is well described in classic galactosemia. The uncertainty surrounding fertility preservation and the significant chance of spontaneous pregnancy warrant counseling towards conservative application of these techniques. We propose that fertility preservation should only be offered with appropriate institutional research ethics approval to classic galactosemia girls at a young prepubertal age. PMID:23866841

Almost every female classic galactosemia patient develops primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) as a diet-independent complication of the disease. This is a major concern for patients and their parents, and physicians are often asked about possible options to preserve fertility. Unfortunately, there are no recommendations on fertility preservation in this group. The unique pathophysiology of classic galactosemia with a severely reduced follicle pool at an early age requires an adjusted approach. In this article recommendations for physicians based on current knowledge concerning galactosemia and fertility preservation are made. Fertility preservation is only likely to be successful in very young prepubertal patients. In this group, cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is currently the only available technique. However, this technique is not ready for clinical application, it is considered experimental and reduces the ovarian reserve. Fertility preservation at an early age also raises ethical questions that should be taken into account. In addition, spontaneous conception despite POI is well described in classic galactosemia. The uncertainty surrounding fertility preservation and the significant chance of spontaneous pregnancy warrant counseling towards conservative application of these techniques. We propose that fertility preservation should only be offered with appropriate institutional research ethics approval to classic galactosemia girls at a young prepubertal age. PMID:23866841

Quantum localization of classical mechanics within the BRST-BFV and BV (or field-antifield) quantization methods are studied. It is shown that a special choice of gauge fixing functions (or BRST-BFV charge) together with the unitary limit leads to Hamiltonian localization in the path integral of the BRST-BFV formalism. In turn, we find that a special choice of gauge fixing functions being proportional to extremals of an initial non-degenerate classical action together with a very special solution of the classical master equation result in Lagrangian localization in the partition function of the BV formalism.

We analyze numerically the dynamical generation of quantum entanglement in a system of two interacting particles, started in a coherent separable state, for decreasing values of ℏ. As ℏ→0 the entanglement entropy, computed at any finite time, converges to a finite nonzero value. The limit law that rules the time dependence of entropy is well reproduced by purely classical computations. Its general features can be explained by simple classical arguments, which expose the different ways entanglement is generated in systems that are classically chaotic or regular. PMID:22587162

We show that Anderson localization in quasi-one-dimensional conductors with ballistic electron dynamics, such as an array of ballistic chaotic cavities connected via ballistic contacts, can be understood in terms of classical electron trajectories only. At large length scales, an exponential proliferation of trajectories of nearly identical classical action generates an abundance of interference terms, which eventually leads to a suppression of transport coefficients. We quantitatively describe this mechanism in two different ways: the explicit description of transition probabilities in terms of interfering trajectories, and an hierarchical integration over fluctuations in the classical phase space of the array cavities.

Classical calculations of the atomic processes started in 1911 with famous Rutherford's evaluation of the differential cross section for α particles scattered on foil atoms [1]. The success of these calculations was soon overshadowed by the rise of Quantum Mechanics in 1925 and its triumphal success in describing processes at the atomic and subatomic levels. It was generally recognized that the classicalapproach should be inadequate and it was neglected until 1953, when the famous paper by Gregory Wannier appeared, in which the threshold law for the single ionization cross section behaviour by electron impact was derived. All later calculations and experimental studies confirmed the law derived by purely classical theory. The next step was taken by Ian Percival and collaborators in 60s, who developed a general classical three-body computer code, which was used by many researchers in evaluating various atomic processes like ionization, excitation, detachment, dissociation, etc. Another approach was pursued by Michal Gryzinski from Warsaw, who started a far reaching programme for treating atomic particles and processes as purely classical objects [2]. Though often criticized for overestimating the domain of the classical theory, results of his group were able to match many experimental data. Belgrade group was pursuing the classicalapproach using both analytical and numerical calculations, studying a number of atomic collisions, in particular near-threshold processes. Riga group, lead by Modris Gailitis [3], contributed considerably to the field, as it was done by Valentin Ostrovsky and coworkers from Sanct Petersbourg, who developed powerful analytical methods within purely classical mechanics [4]. We shall make an overview of these approaches and show some of the remarkable results, which were subsequently confirmed by semiclassical and quantum mechanical calculations, as well as by the experimental evidence. Finally we discuss the theoretical and

A Hamiltonian approach is presented to study the two dimensional motion of damped electric charges in time dependent electromagnetic fields. The classical and the corresponding quantum mechanical problems are solved for particular cases using canonical transformations applied to Hamiltonians for a particle with variable mass. Green’s function is constructed and, from it, the motion of a Gaussian wave packet is studied in detail. -- Highlights: •Hamiltonian of a damped charged particle in time dependent electromagnetic fields. •Exact Green’s function of a charged particle in time dependent electromagnetic fields. •Time evolution of a Gaussian wave packet of a damped charged particle. •Classical and quantum dynamics of a damped electric charge.

We propose and construct a quantum money scheme that allows verification through classical communication with a bank. This is the first demonstration that a secure quantum money scheme exists that does not require quantum communication for coin verification. Our scheme is secure against adaptive adversaries - this property is not directly related to the possibility of classical verification, nevertheless none of the earlier quantum money constructions is known to possess it.

Some key problems are presented encountered in the classical microwave frequency standards which are still not solved today. The point of view expressed benefits from the experience gained both in the industry and in the research lab, on the following classical microwave frequency standards: active and passive H, conventional and laser pumped Cs beam tube, small conventional and laser pumped Rubidium. The accent is put on the Rubidium standard.

Electrostatic interactions are crucial for both the accuracy and performance of atomistic biomolecular simulations. In this chapter we review well-established methods and current developments aiming at efficiency and accuracy. Specifically, we review the classical Ewald summations, particle-particle particle-method particle-method Ewald algorithms, multigrid, fast multipole, and local methods. We also highlight some recent developments targeting more accurate, yet classical, representation of the molecular charge distribution. PMID:23034752

The divergent part of the self force of a radiating string coupled to gravity, an antisymmetric tensor and a dilaton in four dimensions are calculated to first order in classical perturbation theory. While this divergence can be absorbed into a renormalization of the string tension, demanding that both it and the divergence in the energy momentum tensor vanish forces the string to have the couplings of compactified N = 1 D = 10 supergravity. In effect, supersymmetry cures the classical infinities.

We propose and construct a quantum money scheme that allows verification through classical communication with a bank. This is the first demonstration that a secure quantum money scheme exists that does not require quantum communication for coin verification. Our scheme is secure against adaptive adversaries - this property is not directly related to the possibility of classical verification, nevertheless none of the earlier quantum money constructions is known to possess it.

Gaussian quantum systems exhibit many explicitly quantum effects but can be simulated classically. By using both the Hilbert space (Koopman) and the phase-space (Moyal) formalisms we investigate how robust this classicality is. We find failures of consistency of the dynamics of hybrid classical-quantum systems from both perspectives. By demanding that no unobservable operators couple to the quantum sector in the Koopmanian formalism, we show that the classical equations of motion act on their quantum counterparts without experiencing any back reaction, resulting in nonconservation of energy in the quantum system. By using the phase-space formalism we study the short-time evolution of the moment equations of a hybrid classical-Gaussian quantum system and observe violations of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation in the quantum sector for a broad range of initial conditions. We estimate the timescale for these violations, which is generically rather short. This inconsistency indicates that while many explicitly quantum effects can be represented classically, quantum aspects of the system cannot be fully masked. We comment on the implications of our results for quantum gravity.

Planck's radiation law provides the solution to the blackbody problem that marks the decline of classical physics and the rise of the quantum theory of the radiation field. Here, we venture to suggest the possibility that classical physics might be equally suitable to deal with the blackbody problem. A classical version of the Planck's radiation law seems to be achievable if we learn from the quantum-classical correspondence between classical Mie theory and quantum-mechanical wave scattering from spherical scatterers (partial wave analysis). This correspondence designs a procedure for countable energy levels of the radiation trapped within the blackbody treated within the multipole approach of classical electrodynamics (in place of the customary and problematic expansion in terms of plane waves that give rise to the ultraviolet catastrophe). In turn, introducing the Boltzmann discretization of energy levels, the tools of classical thermodynamics and statistical theory become available for the task. On the other hand, the final result depends on a free parameter whose physical units are those of an action. Tuning this parameter on the value given by the Planck constant makes the classical result agree with the canonical Planck's radiation law.

Starting from the classical concepts introduced by Sherrington [1] and considerably elaborated by Bernstein [2], much has been learned about motor synergies in the last several years. The contributions of the group funded by the European project "The Hand Embodied" are remarkable in the field of biological and robotic control of the hand based on synergies, and they are reflected in this enjoyable review [3]. There, Santello et al. adopt Bernstein's definition of motor synergies as multiple elements working together towards a common goal, with the result that multiple degrees of freedom are controlled within a lower-dimensional space than the available number of dimensions.

A set of Mathematica functions is presented to model classically two of the most important processes in strong field physics, namely high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and above-threshold ionization (ATI). Our approach is based on the numerical solution of the Newton-Lorentz equation of an electron moving on an electric field and takes advantage of the symbolic languages features and graphical power of Mathematica. Like in the Strong Field Approximation (SFA), the effects of atomic potential on the motion of electron in the laser field are neglected. The SFA was proven to be an essential tool in strong field physics in the sense that it is able to predict with great precision the harmonic (in the HHG) and energy (in the ATI) limits. We have extended substantially the conventional classical simulations, where the electric field is only dependent on time, including spatial nonhomogeneous fields and spatial and temporal synthesized fields. Spatial nonhomogeneous fields appear when metal nanosystems interact with strong and short laser pulses and temporal synthesized fields are routinely generated in attosecond laboratories around the world. Temporal and spatial synthesized fields have received special attention nowadays because they would allow to exceed considerably the conventional harmonic and electron energy frontiers. Classical simulations are an invaluable tool to explore exhaustively the parameters domain at a cheap computational cost, before massive quantum mechanical calculations, absolutely indispensable for the detailed analysis, are performed.

We take a soliton solution of a classical non-linear integrable equation and quench (suddenly change) its non-linearity parameter. For that we multiply the amplitude or the width of a soliton by a numerical factor η and take the obtained profile as a new initial condition. We find the values of η for which the post-quench solution consists of only a finite number of solitons. The parameters of these solitons are found explicitly. Our approach is based on solving the direct scattering problem analytically. We demonstrate how it works for Korteweg–de Vries, sine-Gordon and non-linear Schrödinger integrable equations.

We analyze here the common features of two dynamical regimes: a quantum and a classical one. We deal with a well known semi-classic system in its route towards the classical limit, together with its purely classic counterpart. We wish to ascertain i) whether some quantum remnants can be found in the classical limit and ii) the details of the quantum-classic transition. The so-called mutual information is the appropriate quantifier for this task. Additionally, we study the Bandt-Pompe's symbolic patterns that characterize dynamical time series (representative of the semi-classical system under scrutiny) in their evolution towards the classical limit.

The onager is a throwing weapon of classical antiquity, familiar to both the ancient Greeks and Romans. Here we analyze the dynamics of onager operation and derive the optimum angle for launching a projectile to its maximum range. There is plenty of scope for further considerations about increasing onager range, and so by thinking about how this…

Classical swine fever is a contagious often fatal disease of pigs clinically characterized by high body temperature, lethargy, yellowish diarrhea, vomits and purple skin discoloration of ears, lower abdomen and legs. It was first described in the early 19th century in the USA. Later, a condition i...

Physical conditions and element abundances in the optically thin shells of 11 classical novae with outbursts between 1978 and 1989 were determined from an analysis of UV and optical spectra obtained during the nebular stage. Eight novae were studied on the basis of new optical and UV spectra. The accuracy of the element abundances depends on whether or not simultaneous UV spectra were available to determine individual ionization stage dependent gas temperatures. Generally, slightly higher than solar abundances of helium and pronounced overabundances of the heavier elements were found. QU Vul turned out to be an ONeMg nova, while the other objects belong to the class of CO novae. The nature of V2214 Oph could not be completely clarified. The novae V1668 Cyg (1978), V693 CrA (1981), and V1370 Aql (1982), for which published element abundances exist, were reanalyzed to check the consistency of our spectral analysis approach. Satisfactory agreement of the results was found. Photoionization calculations were carried out for PW Vul using the code of Aldrovandi, Pequignot, and Stasinska. A synthetic spectrum was generated for the parameters derived from the analysis of the UV and optical spectra, which is in very good agreement with the observations. The spectral analysis technique was then applied to the model spectrum and reproduced the model parameters well. Electron temperatures for the C(2+) and C(3+) ions between 7 500 and 12,000 K and for N(4+) betwen 12,000 and 16,000 K were derived. For PW Vul these temperatures remained relatively constant over several months. The decline in density of the ejected shells with time could be investigated for V842 Cen, QV Vul, V977 Sco, and V443 Sct, and was found to deviate from the relation Ne proportional to t-2 for free expansion of a shell in a different way for each object. A possible explanation may be the complex density structure of the shells. This suspicion is supported by high resolution spectra (ESO 3.6m telescope

Postexponential decay of the probability density of a quantum particle leaving a trap can be reproduced accurately, except for interference oscillations at the transition to the postexponential regime, by means of an ensemble of classical particles emitted with constant probability per unit time and the same half-life as the quantum system. The energy distribution of the ensemble is chosen to be identical to the quantum distribution, and the classical point source is located at the scattering length of the corresponding quantum system. A one-dimensional example is provided to illustrate the general argument.

Measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) is a model of quantum computation, in which computation proceeds via adaptive single qubit measurements on a multiqubit quantum state. It is computationally equivalent to the circuit model. Unlike the circuit model, however, its classical analog is little studied. Here we present a classical analog of MBQC whose computational complexity presents a rich structure. To do so, we identify uniform families of quantum computations [refining the circuits introduced by Bremner et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 467, 459 (2010)] whose output is likely hard to exactly simulate (sample) classically. We demonstrate that these circuit families can be efficiently implemented in the MBQC model without adaptive measurement and, thus, can be achieved in a classical analog of MBQC whose resource state is a probability distribution which has been created quantum mechanically. Such states (by definition) violate no Bell inequality, but, if widely held beliefs about computational complexity are true, they, nevertheless, exhibit nonclassicality when used as a computational resource—an imprint of their quantum origin.

A number of articles published in this column have dealt with topics in classical mechanics. This note describes some additional examples employing a smartphone and the new software iMecaProf. Steve Jobs presented the iPhone as "perfect for gaming." Thanks to its microsensors connected in real time to the numerical world, physics…

Presents an augmentation of a classical electrochemical demonstration that addresses the learning styles of the students and teaches electrochemistry in a concrete manner. Enables each student to see each event clearly, repeatedly, or in stop-action mode and enables students to improve their own mental models by providing them with a visually…

Virasoro irregular conformal block with arbitrary rank is obtained for the classical limit or equivalently Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit using the beta-deformed irregular matrix model (Penner-type matrix model for the irregular conformal block). The same result is derived using the generalized Mathieu equation which is equivalent to the loop equation of the irregular matrix model.

In classical music composition, whatever thematic or harmonic conflicts may be engineered along the way, everything always turns out for the best. Similar utopian thinking underlies performance: performers see their job as faithfully carrying out their master's (the composer's) wishes. The more perfectly they represent them, the happier the…

Classical biological control of weeds is an important tool for managing invasive alien plants that have become too widespread to control by conventional methods. It involves the discovery and release of naturally occurring species of natural enemies (insects, mites or pathogens) to control a pest (...

The Rényi entropies and entanglement entropy of 1+1 CFTs with gravity duals can be computed by explicit construction of the bulk spacetimes dual to branched covers of the boundary geometry. At the classical level in the bulk this has recently been shown to reproduce the conjectured Ryu-Takayanagi formula for the holographic entanglement entropy. We study the one-loop bulk corrections to this formula. The functional determinants in the bulk geometries are given by a sum over certain words of generators of the Schottky group of the branched cover. For the case of two disjoint intervals on a line we obtain analytic answers for the one-loop entanglement entropy in an expansion in small cross-ratio. These reproduce and go beyond anticipated universal terms that are not visible classically in the bulk. We also consider the case of a single interval on a circle at finite temperature. At high temperatures we show that the one-loop contributions introduce expected finite size corrections to the entanglement entropy that are not present classically. At low temperatures, the one-loop corrections capture the mixed nature of the density matrix, also not visible classically below the Hawking-Page temperature.

Background Patients-Reported Outcomes (PRO) are increasingly used in clinical and epidemiological research. Two main types of analytical strategies can be found for these data: classical test theory (CTT) based on the observed scores and models coming from Item Response Theory (IRT). However, whether IRT or CTT would be the most appropriate method to analyse PRO data remains unknown. The statistical properties of CTT and IRT, regarding power and corresponding effect sizes, were compared. Methods Two-group cross-sectional studies were simulated for the comparison of PRO data using IRT or CTT-based analysis. For IRT, different scenarios were investigated according to whether items or person parameters were assumed to be known, to a certain extent for item parameters, from good to poor precision, or unknown and therefore had to be estimated. The powers obtained with IRT or CTT were compared and parameters having the strongest impact on them were identified. Results When person parameters were assumed to be unknown and items parameters to be either known or not, the power achieved using IRT or CTT were similar and always lower than the expected power using the well-known sample size formula for normally distributed endpoints. The number of items had a substantial impact on power for both methods. Conclusion Without any missing data, IRT and CTT seem to provide comparable power. The classical sample size formula for CTT seems to be adequate under some conditions but is not appropriate for IRT. In IRT, it seems important to take account of the number of items to obtain an accurate formula. PMID:20338031

At a fundamental level, the classical picture of the world is dead, and has been dead now for almost a century. Pinning down exactly which quantum phenomena are responsible for this has proved to be a tricky and controversial question, but a lot of progress has been made in the past few decades. We now have a range of precise statements showing that whatever the ultimate laws of nature are, they cannot be classical. In this article, we review results on the fundamental phenomena of quantum theory that cannot be understood in classical terms. We proceed by first granting quite a broad notion of classicality, describe a range of quantum phenomena (such as randomness, discreteness, the indistinguishability of states, measurement-uncertainty, measurement-disturbance, complementarity, non-commutativity, interference, the no-cloning theorem and the collapse of the wave-packet) that do fall under its liberal scope, and then finally describe some aspects of quantum physics that can never admit a classical understanding - the intrinsically quantum mechanical aspects of nature. The most famous of these is Bell's theorem, but we also review two more recent results in this area. Firstly, Hardy's theorem shows that even a finite-dimensional quantum system must contain an infinite amount of information, and secondly, the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem shows that the wave function must be an objective property of an individual quantum system. Besides being of foundational interest, results of this sort now find surprising practical applications in areas such as quantum information science and the simulation of quantum systems.

Classical medicine operates in a climate of rational discourse, scientific knowledge accretion and the acceptance of ethical standards that regulate its activities. Criticism has centred on the excessive technological emphasis of modern medicine and on its social strategy aimed at defending exclusiveness and the privileges of professional status. Alternative therapeutic approaches have taken advantage of the eroded public image of medicine, offering treatments based on holistic philosophies that stress the non-rational, non-technical and non-scientific approach to the unwell, disregarding traditional diagnostic categories and concentrating on enhancing subjective comfort and well-being, but remaining oblivious to the organic substrate of disease. This leads to questionable ethics in terms of false hopes and lost opportunities for effective therapy. PMID:1573644

We have exhaustively investigated the classical limit of the semi-classical evolution with reference to a well-known model that represents the interaction between matter and a given field. In this Letter we approach this issue by recourse to a new statistical quantifier called the “symbolic transfer entropy” [T. Schreiber, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000) 461; M. Staniek, K. Lehnertz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008) 158101]. We encounter that the quantum-classical transition gets thereby described as the sign reversal of the dominating direction of the information flow between classical and quantal variables. This can be considered as an evidence of the physical useful of this new statistical quantifier.

A classical interpretation of the Dirac-Van Vleck spin version of valence bond theory is used to obtain a classical model for electronic degrees of freedom within the valence bond framework. The approach is illustrated by deriving the explicit forms of the classical Hamiltonians, involving electronic and heavy particle degrees of freedom, for the H-H{sub 2}, F-H{sub 2} , and O-H{sub 2} systems. It is also shown how the initial conditions for both electronic and heavy particle degrees of freedom are chosen to carry out a classical trajectory simulation of collision processes. The attractive feature of this model is that it is as eaaily applicable to electronically non-adiabatic processes as it is to adiabatic ones.

In this Letter we study the problem of secrecy reversibility. This asks when two honest parties can distill secret bits from some tripartite distribution pX Y Z and transform secret bits back into pX Y Z at equal rates using local operation and public communication. This is the classical analog to the well-studied problem of reversibly concentrating and diluting entanglement in a quantum state. We identify the structure of distributions possessing reversible secrecy when one of the honest parties holds a binary distribution, and it is possible that all reversible distributions have this form. These distributions are more general than what is obtained by simply constructing a classical analog to the family of quantum states known to have reversible entanglement. An indispensable tool used in our analysis is a conditional form of the Gács-Körner common information.

Gibbons et al., [Phys. Rev. A 70, 062101 (2004)] have recently defined discrete Wigner functions W to represent quantum states in a Hilbert space with finite dimension. We show that such a class of Wigner functions W can be defined so that the only pure states having non-negative W for all such functions are stabilizer states, as conjectured by Galvao, [Phys. Rev. A 71, 042302 (2005)]. We also show that the unitaries preserving non-negativity of W for all definitions of W in the class form a subgroup of the Clifford group. This means pure states with non-negative W and their associated unitary dynamics are classical in the sense of admitting an efficient classical simulation scheme using the stabilizer formalism.

Remarkable progress in the understanding of nova outbursts has been achieved through combined efforts in photometry, spectroscopy and numerical simulations. According to the thermonuclear runaway model, novae are powered by thermonuclear explosions in the hydrogen-rich envelopes transferred from a low-mass stellar companion onto a close white dwarf star. Extensive numerical simulations in 1-D have shown that the accreted envelopes attain peak temperatures ranging between 108 and 4 × 108 K, for about several hundred seconds, hence allowing extensive nuclear processing which eventually shows up in the form of nucleosynthetic fingerprints in the ejecta. Indeed, it has been claimed that novae can play a certain role in the enrichment of the interstellar medium through a number of intermediate-mass elements. This includes 17O, 15N, and 13C, systematically overproduced with respect to solar abundances, plus a lower contribution in a number of other species (A < 40), such as 7Li, 19F, or 26Al. At the turn of the XXI Century, classical novae have entered the era of multidimensional models, which provide a new insight into the physical mechanisms that drive mixing at the core-envelope interface. In this review, we will present hydrodynamic models of classical novae, from the onset of accretion up to the explosion and ejection stages, both for classical and recurrent novae, with special emphasis on their gross observational properties and their associated nucleosynthesis. The impact of nuclear uncertainties on the final yields will be discussed. Recent results from 2-D models of mixing during classical nova outbursts will also be presented.

We introduce a method that generates invariant functions from perturbative classical field theories depending on external parameters. By applying our methods to several field theories such as Abelian BF, Chern-Simons, and two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory, we obtain, respectively, the linking number for embedded submanifolds in compact varieties, the Gauss' and the second Milnor's invariant for links in S{sup 3}, and invariants under area-preserving diffeomorphisms for configurations of immersed planar curves.

Teeth and their pathologies are frequent themes in classical music. The teeth have inspired popular songwriters such as Thomas Crecquillon, Carl Loewe, Amilcare Ponchielli & Christian Sinding; as well as composers whose works are still played all over the world, such as Robert Schumann and Jacques Offenbach. This paper examines several selections in which the inspiring theme is the teeth and the pain they can cause, from the suffering of toothache, to the happier occasion of a baby's first tooth. PMID:23691776

In this paper we express the retarded fields of Maxwell's theory in terms of the instantaneous fields of a Galilei-invariant electromagnetic and we find the vector function χL whose spatial and temporal derivatives transform the Euclidean fields into the retarded ones. We conclude that the instantaneous fields can formally be introduced as unphysical objects into classical electrodynamics which can be used to find the physical retarded fields.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory systemic disease. Evidence shows an association of psoriasis with arthritis, depression, inflammatory bowel disease and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, several other comorbid conditions have been proposed as related to the chronic inflammatory status of psoriasis. The understanding of these conditions and their treatments will certainly lead to better management of the disease. The present article aims to synthesize the knowledge in the literature about the classical and emerging comorbidities related to psoriasis. PMID:25672294

We investigate entanglement for a composite closed system endowed with a scaling property which allows the dynamics to be kept invariant while the effective Planck constant ({Dirac_h}/2{pi}){sub eff} of the system is varied. Entanglement increases as ({Dirac_h}/2{pi}){sub eff}{yields}0. Moreover, for sufficiently low ({Dirac_h}/2{pi}){sub eff} the evolution of the quantum correlations, encapsulated, for example, in the quantum discord, can be obtained from the mutual information of the corresponding classical system. We show this behavior is due to the local suppression of path interferences in the interaction that generates the entanglement.

We compare two approaches to embedding joint distributions of random variables recorded under different conditions (such as spins of entangled particles for different settings) into the framework of classical, Kolmogorovian probability theory. In the contextualization approach each random variable is "automatically" labeled by all conditions under which it is recorded, and the random variables across a set of mutually exclusive conditions are probabilistically coupled (imposed a joint distribution upon). Analysis of all possible probabilistic couplings for a given set of random variables allows one to characterize various relations between their separate distributions (such as Bell-type inequalities or quantum-mechanical constraints). In the conditionalization approach one considers the conditions under which the random variables are recorded as if they were values of another random variable, so that the observed distributions are interpreted as conditional ones. This approach is uninformative with respect to relations between the distributions observed under different conditions because any set of such distributions is compatible with any distribution assigned to the conditions. PMID:24681665

We compare two approaches to embedding joint distributions of random variables recorded under different conditions (such as spins of entangled particles for different settings) into the framework of classical, Kolmogorovian probability theory. In the contextualization approach each random variable is “automatically” labeled by all conditions under which it is recorded, and the random variables across a set of mutually exclusive conditions are probabilistically coupled (imposed a joint distribution upon). Analysis of all possible probabilistic couplings for a given set of random variables allows one to characterize various relations between their separate distributions (such as Bell-type inequalities or quantum-mechanical constraints). In the conditionalization approach one considers the conditions under which the random variables are recorded as if they were values of another random variable, so that the observed distributions are interpreted as conditional ones. This approach is uninformative with respect to relations between the distributions observed under different conditions because any set of such distributions is compatible with any distribution assigned to the conditions. PMID:24681665

Albert Einstein did not believe in completeness of QM. He dreamed of creation of prequantum classical statistical mechanics such that QM will be reproduced as its approximation. He also dreamed of total exclusion of corpuscules from the future model. Reality of Einstein's dream was pure fields' reality. Recently I made his dream come true in the form of so called prequantum classical statistical field theory (PCSFT). In this approach quantum systems are described by classical random fields, e.g., electromagnetic field (instead of photon), electron field or neutron field. In this paper we generalize PCSFT to composite quantum system. It is well known that in QM, unlike classical mechanics, the state of a composite system is described by the tensor product of state spaces for its subsystems. In PCSFT one can still use Cartesian product, but state spaces are spaces of classical fields (not particles). In particular, entanglement is nothing else than correlation of classical random fields, cf. again Einstein. Thus entanglement was finally demystified.

Highlights: > Formal derivation of the Klein-Gordon equation with an invariant frequency. > Formal derivation of the relativistic version of Newton's equation. > The classical mass is replaced by the invariant frequency. > The invariant frequencies for selected elementary particles are deduced. > The choice of natural units resulting from the developed theories is discussed. - Abstract: The fact that the concept of classical mass plays an important role in formulating relativistic theories of waves and particles is well-known. However, recent studies show that Galilean invariant theories of waves and particles can be formulated with the so-called 'wave mass', which replaces the classical mass and allows attaining higher accuracy of performing calculations [J.L. Fry and Z.E. Musielak, Ann. Phys. 325 (2010) 1194]. The main purpose of this paper is to generalize these results and formulate fundamental (Poincare invariant) relativistic theories of waves and particles without the classical mass. In the presented approach, the classical mass is replaced by an invariant frequency that only involves units of time. The invariant frequencies for various elementary particles are deduced from experiments and their relationship to the corresponding classical and wave mass for each particle is described. It is shown that relativistic wave mechanics with the invariant frequency is independent of the Planck constant, and that such theory can attain higher accuracy of performing calculations. The choice of natural units resulting from the developed theories of waves and particles is also discussed.

Use of classic book units with gifted elementary students is described as an interdisciplinary approach to stimulating student interest. Sample activities are offered from a unit on Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," with linguistic, artistic-creative, scientific, mathematical, and socio-leadership activities, classified as application, synthesis,…

Computer algebra methods based on results of commutative algebra like Groebner bases of ideals and elimination of variables make it possible to solve complex, elementary and non elementary problems of geometry, which are difficult to solve using a classicalapproach. Computer algebra methods permit the proof of geometric theorems, automatic…

A modified version of the Feynman relativistic chessboard model (FCM) is investigated in which the paths involved are spirals in the space-time. Portions of the paths in which the particle`s proper time is reversed are interpreted in terms of antiparticles. With this intepretation the particle-antiparticle field produced by such trajectories provides a classical analog of the phase associated with particle paths in the unmodified FCM. It is shwon that in the nonrelativistic limit the resulting kernel is the correct Dirac propagator and that particle-antiparticle symmetry is in this case responsible for quantum interference. 7 refs., 3 figs.

We study the classical dynamics of a particle in Snyder spacetime, adopting the formalism of constrained Hamiltonian systems introduced by Dirac. We show that the motion of a particle in a scalar potential is deformed with respect to special relativity by terms of order βE2. A remarkable result is that in the relativistic Snyder model a consistent choice of the time variable must necessarily depend on the dynamics. This is a consequence of the nontrivial mixing between position and momentum coordinates intrinsic to the Snyder model.

In the period spanned by the Texas meetings,-the term ``classical relativity'' was not yet coined 40 years ago-the notions of gravitational collapse, gravitational radiation singularities and black hole where in the center of almost all investigations and developments. 40 years ago black holes were exotic theoretical concepts far from reality. Now they seem to exist all over the univers. In the last 40 years a scenarium describing the collaps or collision of stellar objects or BHs has formed. In my talk I want to outline this picture, tell you which parts are firmly established and where the big open questions are. .

The authors investigate to what extent observational selection can account for the prevalence of massive white dwarfs among classical novae as was originally proposed by Truran and Livio (1986). For this the authors elaborate on their approach by taking into account a detailed model distribution function for the masses of newly-formed cataclysmic binaries from Politano (1988, 1990), an improved ignition condition for the thermonuclear runaway, as well as effects of the secular evolution of the systems and flux limitation of the observations (including interstellar absorption). The results agree qualitatively with those obtained by Truran and Livio (1986). However, since Politano's model calculations do not take into account the formation of O-Ne-Mg white dwarfs, the authors cannot make any quantitative prediction as to their expected abundance among observed novae.

A technique is presented for finding the classical Lagrange function corresponding to a given dispersion relation. This allows us to study the classical analogue of the Standard-Model Extension. Developments are discussed.

We investigate classically spinning topological solitons in (2+1)- and (3+1)-dimensional models; more explicitely spinning sigma model solitons in 2+1 dimensions and Skyrme solitons in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions. For example, such types of solitons can be used to describe quasiparticle excitations in ferromagnetic quantum Hall systems or to model spin and isospin states of nuclei. The standard way to obtain solitons with quantised spin and isospin is the semiclassical quantization procedure: One parametrizes the zero-mode space - the space of energy-degenerate soliton configurations generated from a single soliton by spatial translations and rotations in space and isospace - by collective coordinates which are then taken to be time-dependent. This gives rise to additional dynamical terms in the Hamiltonian which can then be quantized following semiclassical quantization rules. A simplification which is often made in the literature is to apply a simple adiabatic approximation to the (iso)rotational zero modes of the soliton by assuming that the soliton's shape is rotational frequency independent. Our numerical results on classically spinning arbitrarily deforming soliton solutions clearly show that soliton deformation cannot be ignored.

A number of articles published in this column have dealt with topics in classical mechanics. This note describes some additional examples employing a smartphone and the new software iMecaProf.4 Steve Jobs presented the iPhone as "perfect for gaming."5 Thanks to its microsensors connected in real time to the numerical world, physics teachers could add that smartphones are "perfect for teaching science." The software iMecaProf displays in real time the measured data on a screen. The visual representation is built upon the formalism of classical mechanics. iMecaProf receives data 100 times a second from iPhone sensors through a Wi-Fi connection using the application Sensor Data.6 Data are the three components of the acceleration vector in the smartphone frame and smartphone's orientation through three angles (yaw, pitch, and roll). For circular motion (uniform or not), iMecaProf uses independent measurements of the rotation angle θ, the angular speed dθ/dt, and the angular acceleration d2θ/dt2.

Movement disorders such as ataxia are a recognized complication of classical galactosaemia, even in diet-compliant patients. Here, we report the coexistence of classical galactosaemia and Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) in nine children from seven Irish Traveller families. These two autosomal recessive disorders, the loci for which are located on either side of the centromere of chromosome 9, appear to be in linkage disequilibrium in this subgroup. Both conditions are known to occur with increased frequency amongst the Irish Traveller population.Each member of our cohort had been diagnosed with galactosaemia in the neonatal period, and all are homozygous for the common Q188R mutation in the GALT gene. Eight of the nine patients later presented with progressive ataxia, between the ages of 5-13 years. Another child presented in cardiac failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy at 7 years of age. He was not ataxic at presentation and, one year from diagnosis, his neurological examination remains normal. The diagnosis of FRDA was confirmed by detecting the common pathogenic GAA expansion in both alleles of the frataxin gene (FXN) in each patient.Neurological symptoms are easily attributed to an underlying diagnosis of galactosaemia. It is important to consider a diagnosis of Friedreich ataxia in a child from the Irish Traveller population with galactosaemia who presents with ataxia or cardiomyopathy. PMID:26219880

The aerobic and anaerobic energy yield during professional training sessions ("classes") of classical ballet as well as during rehearsed and performed ballets has been studied by means of oxygen uptake, heart rate, and blood lactate concentration determinations on professional ballet dancers from the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. The measured oxygen uptake during six different normal classes at the theatre averaged about 35-45% of the maximal oxygen uptake, and the blood lactate concentration averaged 3 mM (N = 6). During 10 different solo parts of choreographed dance (median length = 1.8 min) representative for moderately to very strenuous dance, an average oxygen uptake (measured during the last minute) of 80% of maximum and blood lactate concentration of 10 mM was measured (N = 10). In addition, heart rate registrations from soloists in different ballets during performance and final rehearsals frequently indicated a high oxygen uptake relative to maximum and an average blood lactate concentration of 11 mM (N = 5). Maximal oxygen uptake, determined in 1971 (N = 11) and 1983 (N = 13) in two different groups of dancers, amounted to on the average 51 and 56 ml X min-1 X kg-1 for the females and males, respectively. In conclusion, classical ballet is a predominantly intermittent type of exercise. In choreographed dance each exercise period usually lasts only a few minutes, but can be very demanding energetically, while during the dancers' basic training sessions, the energy yield is low. PMID:6513765

A curriculum resource developed by the School District of Philadelphia deals with Africa in Classical Antiquity. Each unit contains suggestions for lower, middle and upper schools. Topics covered are: history of Africa; great Africans in the Graeco-Roman world; racial attitudes; blacks in classical art, and Africa in classical literature. (CHK)

This curriculum resource is intended primarily to assist teachers of Latin and Greek to infuse material on Africa in classical antiquity into the curriculum at all levels. It gathers together background information on the role of Africa in classical antiquity that has not been treated in traditional classical language courses. The resource guide…

How is the tradition of Western classical music faring on university campuses? Before answering this question, it is necessary to understand what has transpired with classical music in the wider culture, as the relationship between the two is so strong. In this article, the author discusses how classical music has taken a big cultural hit in…

Using the pocket classics can be a painless way to introduce the classics to eighth-grade students. Condensed versions of the classics can take the sting out of the reading, stimulate students' interest, and help prepare them for high school. To offer students in one eighth-grade class some control over their own learning, a contract system was…

By making a short-time approximation to the correlation function in the quantum result for transition state absorption (or emission) we obtain the Lorentzian and reflection results as integrals of simple configuration space functions. These and the time-integrated quantum results are used to derive and unify the following descriptions of transition-state absorption: (a) the classical model of Bersohn and Zewail, (b) the time-dependent wave mechanical description by Agrawal, Mohan and Sathyamurthy, (c) the classical trajectory approach by Polanyi and coworkers and (d) the time-independent quantum-mechanical description by Engel, Bacic, Schinke and Shapiro.

The Classical Physics Fundamentals Handbook was developed to assist nuclear facility operating contractors provide operators, maintenance personnel, and the technical staff with the necessary fundamentals training to ensure a basic understanding of physical forces and their properties. The handbook includes information on the units used to measure physical properties; vectors, and how they are used to show the net effect of various forces; Newton's Laws of motion, and how to use these laws in force and motion applications; and the concepts of energy, work, and power, and how to measure and calculate the energy involved in various applications. This information will provide personnel with a foundation for understanding the basic operation of various types of DOE nuclear facility systems and equipment.

Computer animations are a powerful tool for explanation and communication of ideas, especially to a younger generation. Our team completed a three part sequence of short, computer animated stories about the insight and discoveries that lead to the understanding of the overall structure of the universe. Our principal characters are Immanuel Kant, Henrietta Leavitt, and Edwin Hubble. We utilized animations to model and visualize the physical concepts behind each discovery and to recreate the characters, locations, and flavor of the time. The animations vary in length from 6 to 11 minutes. The instructors or presenters may wish to utilize them separately or together. The animations may be used for learning classical cosmology in a visual way in GE astronomy courses, in pre-college science classes, or in public science education setting.

Hamilton's principle of stationary action lies at the foundation of theoretical physics and is applied in many other disciplines from pure mathematics to economics. Despite its utility, Hamilton's principle has a subtle pitfall that often goes unnoticed in physics: it is formulated as a boundary value problem in time but is used to derive equations of motion that are solved with initial data. This subtlety can have undesirable effects. I present a formulation of Hamilton's principle that is compatible with initial value problems. Remarkably, this leads to a natural formulation for the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics of generic nonconservative systems, thereby filling a long-standing gap in classical mechanics. Thus, dissipative effects, for example, can be studied with new tools that may have applications in a variety of disciplines. The new formalism is demonstrated by two examples of nonconservative systems: an object moving in a fluid with viscous drag forces and a harmonic oscillator coupled to a dissipative environment. PMID:23679733

NASA at the University of Chicago, provided support for a program of theoretical research into the nature of the thermonuclear outbursts of the classical novae and their implications for gamma ray astronomy. In particular, problems which have been addressed include the role of convection in the earliest stages of nova runaway, the influence of opacity on the characteristics of novae, and the nucleosynthesis expected to accompany nova outbursts on massive Oxygen-Neon-Magnesium (ONeMg) white dwarfs. In the following report, I will identify several critical projects on which considerable progress has been achieved and provide brief summaries of the results obtained:(1) two dimensional simulation of nova runaway; (2) nucleosynthesis of nova modeling; and (3) a quasi-analytic study of nucleosynthesis in ONeMg novae.

We study the diffusion of monochromatic classical waves in a disordered acoustic medium by scattering theory. In order to avoid artifacts associated with mathematical point scatterers, we model the randomness by small but finite insertions. We derive expressions for the configuration-averaged energy flux, energy density, and intensity for one-, two-, and three-dimensional (3D) systems with an embedded monochromatic source using the ladder approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation. We study the transition from ballistic to diffusive wave propagation and obtain results for the frequency dependence of the medium properties such as mean free path and diffusion coefficient as a function of the scattering parameters. We discover characteristic differences of the diffusion in 2D as compared to the conventional 3D case, such as an explicit dependence of the energy flux on the mean free path and quite different expressions for the effective transport velocity. PMID:16486306

The rapid progress of computer technology has been accompanied by a corresponding evolution of software development, from hardwired components and binary machine code to high level programming languages, which allowed to master the increasing hardware complexity and fully exploit its potential. This paper investigates, how classical concepts like hardware abstraction, hierarchical programs, data types, memory management, flow of control, and structured programming can be used in quantum computing. The experimental language QCL will be introduced as an example, how elements like irreversible functions, local variables, and conditional branching, which have no direct quantum counterparts, can be implemented, and how nonclassical features like the reversibility of unitary transformation or the nonobservability of quantum states can be accounted for within the framework of a procedural programming language.

We suggest that random matrix theory applied to a matrix of lengths of classical trajectories can be used in classical billiards to distinguish chaotic from non-chaotic behavior. We consider in 2D the integrable circular and rectangular billiard, the chaotic cardioid, Sinai and stadium billiard as well as mixed billiards from the Limaçon/Robnik family. From the spectrum of the length matrix we compute the level spacing distribution, the spectral auto-correlation and spectral rigidity. We observe non-generic (Dirac comb) behavior in the integrable case and Wignerian behavior in the chaotic case. For the Robnik billiard close to the circle the distribution approaches a Poissonian distribution. The length matrix elements of chaotic billiards display approximate GOE behavior. Our findings provide evidence for universality of level fluctuations-known from quantum chaos-to hold also in classical physics.

Carathèodory's classic work on the calculus of variations explores in depth the connection between ordinary differential equations and first-order partial differential equations. The n second-order ordinary differential equations of a classical dynamical system reduce to a single first-order differential equation in 2n independent variables. The general solution of first-order partial differential equations touches on many concepts central to graduate-level courses in analytical dynamics including the Hamiltonian, Lagrange and Poisson brackets, and the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. For all but the simplest dynamical systems the solution requires one or more of these techniques. Three elementary dynamical problems (uniform acceleration, harmonic motion, and cyclotron motion) can be solved directly from the appropriate first-order partial differential equation without the use of advanced methods. The process offers an unusual perspective on classical dynamics, which is readily accessible to intermediate students who are not yet fully conversant with advanced approaches.

The aim of this paper is to show that a new understanding of fundamentality can be applied successfully in classical cosmology based on General Relativity. We are thereby able to achieve an account of cosmological time asymmetry as an intrinsic and fun-damental property of the universe. First, we consider Price's arguments against the fundamental status of time-asymmetry (Price (1996, 2002, 2011)). We show that these arguments have some force, but their force depends on understanding fundamentality as law-likeness. Second, we show that alternative approaches attempting to explain time directedness either by applying an anthropic strategy based on a multiverse approach, or by using the empirical fact of accelerated expansion of the universe, equally fail to provide a fundamental explanation of time directedness. In the third part, we present our own new concept of fundamentality based on properties of the solution space of fundamental laws. We demonstrate how this new concept of fundamentality is effective in understanding the cosmological asymmetry.

We have attempted to estimate the number of genes involved in postzygotic reproductive isolation between two closely related species, Drosophila simulans and Drosophila sechellia, by a novel approach that involves the use of high resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) to examine testis proteins in parents, hybrids and fertile and sterile backcross progenies. The important results that have emerged from this study are as follows: (1) about 8% of about 1000 proteins examined showed divergence (presence/absence) between the two species; (2) by tracing individual proteins in parental, hybrid and backcross males, we were able to associate the divergent proteins with different chromosomes and found that most divergent proteins are associated with autosomes and very few with X chromosome, Y chromosome and cytoplasm; (3) when proteins showing both quantitative and qualitative differences between the two species were examined in F(1) hybrid males, most (97.4%) proteins were expressed at levels between the two parents and no sign of large scale changes in spot density was observed. All the proteins observed in the two parental species were present in F(1) hybrid males except two species-specific proteins that may be encoded (or regulated) by sex chromosomes; (4) when different fertile and sterile backcross male testes were compared, a few D. sechellia-specific proteins were identified to be consistently associated with male sterility. These results along with the observation that a large proportion (23.6%) of first generation backcross males were fertile show that hybrid male sterility between D. simulans and D. sechellia involves a relatively small number of genes. Role of large scale genetic changes due to general genome incompatibility is not supported. The results also suggest that the large effect of X chromosome on hybrid male sterility is not due to higher divergence of X chromosome than autosomes. PMID:8224814

Recent chemical analyses, microscopy studies and computer simulations suggest many minerals nucleate through aggregation of pre-nucleation clusters and grow by particle-mediated processes that involve amorphous or disordered precursors. Still other analyses, both experimental and computational, conclude that even simple mineral systems like calcium carbonate form via a barrier-free process of liquid-liquid separation, which is followed by dehydration of the ion-rich phase to form the solid products. However, careful measurements of calcite nucleation rates on a variety of ionized surfaces give results that are in complete agreement with the expectations of classical nucleation theory, in which clusters growing through ion-by-ion addition overcome a free energy barrier through the natural microscopic density fluctuations of the system. Here the challenge of integrating these seemingly disparate observations and analyses into a coherent picture of mineral formation is addressed by considering the energy barriers to calcite formation predicted by the classical theory and the changes in those barriers brought about by the introduction of interfaces and clusters, both stable and metastable. Results from a suite of in situ TEM, AFM, and optical experiments combined with simulations are used to illustrate the conclusions. The analyses show that the expected barrier to homogeneous calcite nucleation is prohibitive even at concentrations exceeding the solubility limit of amorphous calcium carbonate. However, as demonstrated by experiments on self-assembled monolayers, the introduction of surfaces that moderately decrease the interfacial energy associated with the forming nucleus can reduce the magnitude of the barrier to a level that is easily surmounted under typical laboratory conditions. In the absence of such surfaces, experiments that proceed by continually increasing supersaturation with time can easily by-pass direct nucleation of calcite and open up pathways through

We study the classical and entanglement-assisted capacity of a forgetful quantum memory channel that randomly switches between two qubit depolarizing channels. We show that when the input consists of two qubits then depending on channel parameters either the maximally entangled input states or product input states achieve the two-use classical capacity. We conjecture that as the number of input qubits is increased the classical capacity approaches the product state capacity for all values of the parameters. We also derive an expression for the entanglement-assisted classical capacity of this quantum memory channel in terms of the entropy rate of a Markov chain.

This review describes the historical difficulties in devising a kinetically satisfactory mechanism for the classical catalase after its identification as a unique catalytic entity in 1902 and prior to the breakthrough 1947 analysis by Chance and co-workers which led to the identification of peroxide compounds I and II. The role of protons in the formation of these two ferryl complexes is discussed and current problems of inhibitory ligand and hydrogen donor binding at the active site are outlined, especially the multiple roles involving formate or formic acid. A previous mechanism of NADPH-dependent catalase protection against substrate inhibition is defended. A revised model linking the catalytic ('catalatic') action and the one-electron side reactions involving compound II is suggested. And it is concluded that, contrary to an idea proposed in 1963 that eukaryotic catalase might be a 'fossil enzyme', current thinking gives it a central role in the redox protective processes of long term importance for human and other eukaryotic and prokaryotic life. PMID:22326823

It is an old result of Bohr that, according to classical statistical mechanics, at equilibrium a system of electrons in a static magnetic field presents no magnetization. Thus a magnetization can occur only in an out of equilibrium state, such as that produced through the Foucault currents when a magnetic field is switched on. It was suggested by Bohr that, after the establishment of such a nonequilibrium state, the system of electrons would quickly relax back to equilibrium. In the present paper, we study numerically the relaxation to equilibrium in a modified Bohr model, which is mathematically equivalent to a billiard with obstacles, immersed in a magnetic field that is adiabatically switched on. We show that it is not guaranteed that equilibrium is attained within the typical time scales of microscopic dynamics. Depending on the values of the parameters, one has a relaxation either to equilibrium or to a diamagnetic (presumably metastable) state. The analogy with the relaxation properties in the Fermi Pasta Ulam problem is also pointed out.

We develop a method for calculating the equilibrium properties of the liquid-solid phase transition in a classical, ideal, multicomponent plasma. Our method is a semianalytic calculation that relies on extending the accurate fitting formulas available for the one-, two-, and three-component plasmas to the case of a plasma with an arbitrary number of components. We compare our results to those of C. J. Horowitz et al. [Phys. Rev. E 75, 066101 (2007)], who used a molecular-dynamics simulation to study the chemical properties of a 17-species mixture relevant to the ocean-crust boundary of an accreting neutron star at the point where half the mixture has solidified. Given the same initial composition as Horowitz et al., we are able to reproduce to good accuracy both the liquid and solid compositions at the half-freezing point; we find abundances for most species within 10% of the simulation values. Our method allows the phase diagram of complex mixtures to be explored more thoroughly than possible with numerical simulations. We briefly discuss the implications for the nature of the liquid-solid boundary in accreting neutron stars.

One-day-old, awake infants underwent an olfactory classical conditioning procedure to assess associative learning within the olfactory system of newborns. Experimental infants received ten 30-second pairings of a novel olfactory conditioned stimulus (a citrus odor of neutral value) and tactile stimulation provided by stroking as the reinforcing unconditioned stimulus (a stimulus with positive properties). Control babies received only the odor, only the stroking, or the stroking followed by the odor presentation. The next day, all infants, in either the awake or sleep state, were given five 30-second presentations of the odor. Results were analyzed from video tapes scored by an observer unaware of the infants’ training condition. The results indicate that only those infants who received the forward pairings of the odor and stroking exhibited conditioned responding (head turning toward the odor) to the citrus odor. The performance of the conditioned response was not affected by the state of the baby during testing, because both awake and sleeping infants exhibited conditioned responses. Furthermore, the expression of the conditioned response was odor specific; a novel floral odor presented during testing did not elicit conditioned responses in the experimental babies. These results suggest that complex associative olfactory learning is seen in newborns within the first 48 hours of life. These baseline findings may serve as normative data against which observation from neonates at risk for neurological sequelae may be compared. PMID:2011429

Time evolution of hot drops of matter containing approx.230 or approx.130 particles is studied by classical molecular dynamics. Initially, the drops have uniform density and a sharp surface. The chosen initial conditions include three values of density and a range of temperatures wide enough to study the phenomena of evaporation, fragmentation, and total vaporization in a unified fashion. The average density and temperature of central matter is measured periodically to obtain trajectories of the evolution in the rho,T plane. These trajectories indicate that the matter expands almost adiabatically until it reaches the region of adiabatic instabilities. Density inhomogeneities develop in this region, but the matter fragments only if the expansion continues to average densities of less than one-fourth the liquid density, otherwise it recondenses into a single blob. The recondensed matter and fragments have very crooked surfaces. If the temperature is high enough, the expanding matter does not enter the region of adiabatic instabilities and totally vaporizes. For initial densities of the order of equilibrium density, matter does not fragment or develop large inhomogeneities in the region enclosed by the isothermal and adiabatic spinodals. Thus it appears unlikely that fragmentation of small drops (nuclei) can be used to study the isothermal critical region of gas-liquid phase transition. A detailed tabulation of the energies and number of monomers, dimers, light, and heavy fragments emitted in each event is presented.

I argue that in a classical universe, all the events that ever happen are encoded in each of the universe's parts. This conflicts with a statement which is widely believed to lie at the basis of relativity theory: that the events in a space-time region R determine only the events in R's domain of dependence but not those in other space-time regions. I show how, from this understanding, a new prediction method (which I call the 'Smoothness Method') can be obtained which allows us to predict future events on the basis of local observational data. Like traditional prediction methods, this method makes use of so-called ' ceteris paribus clauses', i.e. assumptions about the unobserved parts of the universe. However, these assumptions are used in a way which enables us to predict the behaviour of open systems with arbitrary accuracy, regardless of the influence of their environment-which has not been achieved by traditional methods. In a sequel to this paper (Schmidt, 1998), I will prove the Uniqueness and Predictability Theorems on which the Smoothness Method is based, and comment in more detail on its mathematical properties.

The acceleration theorem of Bloch waves is utilized to construct random potential wells for classical acoustic waves in systems composed of alternating `cavities' and `couplers'. One prominent advantage of this method is these `cavities' and `couplers' are all monolayer structures. It allows forming more compact classical potential wells, which leads to the miniaturization of acoustic devices. We systematically investigate properties of harmonic, tangent, hyperbolic function, and square classical potential wells in quasi-periodic superlattices. Results show these classical potential wells are analogues of quantum potential wells. Thus some technologies and concepts in quantum potential well fields may be generalized to classical acoustic wave fields. In addition, some abnormal cases regarding forming classical potential wells are also found.

We introduce a classical BRST complex (See Definition 3.2.) and show that one can construct a classical affine W-algebra via the complex. This definition clarifies that classical affine W-algebras can be considered as quasi-classical limits of quantum affine W-algebras. We also give a definition of a classical affine fractional W-algebra as a Poisson vertex algebra. As in the classical affine case, a classical affine fractional W-algebra has two compatible λ-brackets and is isomorphic to an algebra of differential polynomials as a differential algebra. When a classical affine fractional W-algebra is associated to a minimal nilpotent, we describe explicit forms of free generators and compute λ-brackets between them. Provided some assumptions on a classical affine fractional W-algebra, we find an infinite sequence of integrable systems related to the algebra, using the generalized Drinfel’d and Sokolov reduction.

We show that the gravitational modification of the phase of a neutron beam [the Colella-Overhauser-Werner (COW) experiment] has a classical origin, being due to the time delay that classical particles experience in traversing a background gravitational field. Similarly, we show that classical light waves also undergo a phase shift in traversing a gravitational field. We show that the COW experiment respects the equivalence principle even in the presence of quantum mechanics. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

After a general description of the tomographic picture for classical systems, a tomographic description of free classical scalar fields is proposed both in a finite cavity and the continuum. The tomographic description is constructed in analogy with the classical tomographic picture of an ensemble of harmonic oscillators. The tomograms of a number of relevant states such as the canonical distribution, the classical counterpart of quantum coherent states and a new family of so-called Gauss-Laguerre states, are discussed. Finally the Liouville equation for field states is described in the tomographic picture offering an alternative description of the dynamics of the system that can be extended naturally to other fields.

Fourier transforms, integer and fractional, are ubiquitous mathematical tools in basic and applied science. Certainly, since the ordinary Fourier transform is merely a particular case of a continuous set of fractional Fourier domains, every property and application of the ordinary Fourier transform becomes a special case of the fractional Fourier transform. Despite the great practical importance of the discrete Fourier transform, implementation of fractional orders of the corresponding discrete operation has been elusive. Here we report classical and quantum optical realizations of the discrete fractional Fourier transform. In the context of classical optics, we implement discrete fractional Fourier transforms of exemplary wave functions and experimentally demonstrate the shift theorem. Moreover, we apply this approach in the quantum realm to Fourier transform separable and path-entangled biphoton wave functions. The proposed approach is versatile and could find applications in various fields where Fourier transforms are essential tools. PMID:27006089

The same set of physically motivated axioms can be used to construct both the classical ensemble Hamilton-Jacobi equation and Schroedingers equation. Crucial roles are played by the assumptions of universality and simplicity (Occam's Razor) which restrict the number and type of of arbitrary constants that appear in the equations of motion. In this approach, non-relativistic quantum theory is seen as the unique single parameter extension of the classical ensemble dynamics. The method is contrasted with other related constructions in the literature and some consequences of relaxing the axioms are also discussed: for example, the appearance of nonlinear higher-derivative corrections possibly related to gravity and spacetime fluctuations. Finally, some open research problems within this approach are highlighted.

Fourier transforms, integer and fractional, are ubiquitous mathematical tools in basic and applied science. Certainly, since the ordinary Fourier transform is merely a particular case of a continuous set of fractional Fourier domains, every property and application of the ordinary Fourier transform becomes a special case of the fractional Fourier transform. Despite the great practical importance of the discrete Fourier transform, implementation of fractional orders of the corresponding discrete operation has been elusive. Here we report classical and quantum optical realizations of the discrete fractional Fourier transform. In the context of classical optics, we implement discrete fractional Fourier transforms of exemplary wave functions and experimentally demonstrate the shift theorem. Moreover, we apply this approach in the quantum realm to Fourier transform separable and path-entangled biphoton wave functions. The proposed approach is versatile and could find applications in various fields where Fourier transforms are essential tools.

Primary mediastinal Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) is rare. Nodular sclerosis CHL (NS-CHL) is the most common subtype involving the anterior mediastinum and/or mediastinal lymph nodes. Primary thymic CHL is exceedingly rare. The disease typically affects young women and is asymptomatic in 30% to 50% of patients. Common symptoms include fatigue, chest pain, dyspnea and cough, but vary depending on the location and size of the tumor. B-symptoms develop in 30% of cases. By imaging, primary mediastinal CHL presents as mediastinal widening/mediastinal mass that does not invade adjacent organs but may compress vital structures as bulky disease. Histopathology is the gold standard for diagnosis. Primary mediastinal NS-CHL consists of nodules of polymorphous inflammatory cells surrounded by broad fibrous bands extending from a thickened lymph node capsule. The cellular nodules contain variable numbers of large Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells, required for diagnosis. Primary thymic CHL may exhibit prominent cystic changes. The histopathologic recognition of NS-CHL can be challenging in cases with prominent fibrosis, scant cellularity, artifactual cell distortion, or an exuberant granulomatous reaction. The differential diagnosis includes primary mediastinal non-HLs, mediastinal germ cell tumors, thymoma, and metastatic carcinoma or melanoma to the mediastinum. Distinction from primary mediastinal non-HLs is crucial for adequate therapeutic decisions. Approximately 95% of patients with primary mediastinal CHL will be alive and free of disease at 10 years after treatment with short courses of combined chemoradiotherapy. In this review, we discuss the history, classification, epidemiology, clinicoradiologic features, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, differential diagnosis, and treatment of primary mediastinal CHL. PMID:27441757

THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES INSTITUTE FOR LATIN TEACHERS EMPHASIZED TEACHING TECHNIQUES, INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR BEGINNING (SEVENTH-GRADE) LATIN CLASSES, AND IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHER PROFICIENCY IN LANGUAGE SKILLS. THE PARTICIPANTS CONSIDERED THE CONCURRENT APPROACH AND USE OF VISUAL, AURAL, PICTORIAL, AND KINETIC METHODS OF LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION.…

A brief historical review of conformal mapping and its applications to problems in fluid mechanics and electromagnetism is presented. The use of conformal mapping as a grid generator is described. The philosophy of the 'closed form' approach and its application to a Neumann problem is discussed. Karman-Trefftz mappings and grids for ablated, three dimensional bodies are also discussed.

Examines various aspects of psychodrama outcome research and summarizes in tabular form 23 outcome studies published between 1952 and 1985, interpreting them as a whole. Concludes that psychodrama constitutes a valid alternative to other therapeutic approaches, especially in promoting behavior change in adjustment, antisocial, and related…

A quantum-classicalapproach is used to obtain the velocity distributions in atoms and positive and negative ions in both ground and excited states. In the analysis, Hartree-Fock electronic wavefunctions are used to determine the radial electron distributions, and the central-field approximation is used to study the the dynamic properties of the localized electrons. The distributions for the outer and inner shells are found to agree well with exact results obtained by numerical calculations.

In the limit of large quantum excitations, the classical and quantum probability distributions for a Schrödinger equation can be compared by using the corresponding WKBJ solutions whose rapid oscillations are averaged. This result is extended for one-dimensional Hamiltonians with a non-usual kinetic part. The validity of the approach is tested with a Hamiltonian containing a relativistic kinetic energy operator.

By numerical simulations and analytical studies, we show that the phenomenon of microwave-induced resistance oscillations can be understood as a classical memory effect caused by recollisions of electrons with scattering centers after a cyclotron period. We develop a Drude-like approach to magnetotransport in the presence of a microwave field, taking into account memory effects, and find an excellent agreement between numerical and analytical results, as well as a qualitative agreement with experiment.

Tunneling in the unimolecular reactions H/sub 2/C/sub 2/ ..-->.. HC/sub 2/H, HNC ..-->.. HCN, and H/sub 2/CO ..-->.. H/sub 2/ + CO is studied with a classical Hamiltonian that allows the reaction coordinate and transverse vibrational modes to be considered directly. A combination of classical perturbation theory and the semiclassical WKB method allows tunneling probabilities to be obtained, and a statistical theory (RRKM) is used to construct rate constants for these reactions in the tunneling regime. In this fashion, it is found that tunneling may be important, particularly for low excitation energies. Nonadiabatic charge transfer in the reaction Na + I ..-->.. Na /sup +/ + I/sup -/ is treated with classical trajectories based on a classical Hamiltonian that is the analogue of a quantum matrix representation. The charge transfer cross section obtained is found to agree reasonably well with the exact quantum results. An approximate semiclassical formula, valid at high energies, is also obtained. The interaction of radiation and matter is treated from a classical viewpoint. The excitation of an HF molecule in a strong laser is described with classical trajectories. Quantum mechanical results are also obtained and compared to the classical results. Although the detailed structure of the pulse time averaged energy absorption cannot be reproduced classically, classical mechanics does predict the correct magnitude of energy absorption, as well as certain other qualitative features. The classical behavior of a nonrotating diatomic molecule in a strong laser field is considered further, by generating a period advance map that allows the solution over many periods of oscillation of the laser to be obtained with relative ease. Classical states are found to form beautiful spirals in phase space as time progresses. A simple pendulum model is found to describe the major qualitative features. (WHM)

A self-consistent mode-coupling calculation of the critical viscosity exponent zη for classical fluids is performed by including the memory effect and the vertex corrections. The incorporation of the memory effect is through a self-consistency procedure that evaluates the order parameter and shear momentum relaxation rates at nonzero frequencies, thereby taking their frequency dependence into account. This approach offers considerable simplification and efficiency in the calculation. The vertex corrections are also demonstrated to have significant effects on the numerical value for the critical viscosity exponent, in contrast to some previous theoretical work which indicated that the vertex corrections tend to cancel out from the final result. By carrying out all of the integrations analytically, we have succeeded in tracing the origin of this discrepancy to an error in earlier work. We provide a thorough treatment of the two-term epsilon expansion, as well as a complete three-dimensional analysis of the fluctuating order-parameter and transverse hydrodynamic modes. The study of the interactions of these modes is carried out to high order so as to arrive at zη=0.0679±0.0007 for comparison with the experimentally observed value, 0.0690±0.0006 .

The hallmark of materials science is the ability to tailor the microstructure of a given material to provide a desired response. Carbon mixed with iron provides the steel of buildings and bridges; impurities sprinkled in silicon single crystals form the raw materials of the electronics revolution; pinning centres in superconductors let them become powerful magnets. Here, we show that either adding a few parts per million of the proper chemical impurities to indium antimonide, a well-known semiconductor, or redesigning the material's structure on the micrometre scale, can transform its response to an applied magnetic field. The former approach is purely quantum mechanical; the latter a classical outgrowth of disorder, turned to advantage. In both cases, the magnetoresistive response--at the heart of magnetic sensor technology--can be converted to a simple, large and linear function of field that does not saturate. Harnessing the effects of disorder has the further advantage of extending the useful applications range of such a magnetic sensor to very high temperatures by circumventing the usual limitations imposed by phonon scattering. PMID:18719705

Classical novae are stellar explosions occurring in binary systems, consisting of a white dwarf and a main-sequence companion. Thermonuclear runaways on the surface of massive white dwarfs, consisting of oxygen and neon, are believed to reach peak temperatures of several hundred million kelvin. These temperatures are strongly correlated with the underlying white dwarf mass. The observational counterparts of such models are likely associated with outbursts that show strong spectral lines of neon in their shells (neon novae). The goals of this work are to investigate how useful elemental abundances are for constraining the peak temperatures achieved during these outbursts and determine how robust 'nova thermometers' are with respect to uncertain nuclear physics input. We present updated observed abundances in neon novae and perform a series of hydrodynamic simulations for several white dwarf masses. We find that the most useful thermometers, N/O, N/Al, O/S, S/Al, O/Na, Na/Al, O/P, and P/Al, are those with the steepest monotonic dependence on peak temperature. The sensitivity of these thermometers to thermonuclear reaction rate variations is explored using post-processing nucleosynthesis simulations. The ratios N/O, N/Al, O/Na, and Na/Al are robust, meaning they are minimally affected by uncertain rates. However, their dependence on peak temperature is relatively weak. The ratios O/S, S/Al, O/P, and P/Al reveal strong dependences on temperature and the poorly known {sup 30}P(p, {gamma}){sup 31}S rate. We compare our model predictions to neon nova observations and obtain the following estimates for the underlying white dwarf masses: 1.34-1.35 M {sub Sun} (V838 Her), 1.18-1.21 M {sub Sun} (V382 Vel), {<=}1.3 M {sub Sun} (V693 CrA), {<=}1.2 M {sub Sun} (LMC 1990 no. 1), and {<=}1.2 M {sub Sun} (QU Vul).

This thesis reports on the manifestation of structural disorder on molecular transport and it consists of two parts. Part I discusses the relations between classical transport and the underlying structural complexity of the system. Both types of molecular diffusion, namely Gaussian and non- Gaussian are presented and the relevant time regimes are discussed. In addition the concept of structural universality is introduced and connected with the diffusion metrics. One of the most robust techniques for measuring molecular mean square displacements is magnetic resonance. This method requires encoding and subsequently reading out after an experimentally controlled time, a phase φ to the spins using magnetic field gradients. The main limitation for probing short diffusion lengths L(t) ˜ 1micro m with magnetic resonance is the requirement to encode and decode the phase φ in very short time intervals. Therefore, to probe such displacements a special probe was developed equipped with a gradient coil capable of delivering magnetic field gradients of approximately 90 G/cmA . The design of the probe is reported. Part I also includes a discussion of experiments of transport in two qualitatively different disordered phantoms and reports on a direct observation of universality in one-dimension. The results reveal the universal power law scaling of the diffusion coefficient at the long-time regime and illustrate the essence of structural universality by experimentally determining the structure correlation function of the phantoms. In addition, the scaling of the diffusive permeability of the phantoms with respect to the pore size is investigated. Additional work presented includes a detailed study of adsorption of methane gas in Vycor disordered glass. The techniques described in Part I of this thesis are widely used for measuring structural parameters of porous media, such as the surface-to-volume ratio or diffusive permeability. Part II of this thesis discusses the

Uses the careers of President John F. Kennedy and the legendary Greek hero Achilles to explore the intersections among mythological status, public perception, and leadership. Observes fascinating parallels between both men and their roles as soldiers, generational representatives, and martyred heroes. (MJP)

A monograph of the numerous activities that have contributed to the current renaissance of India's classical performing arts covers the theoretical aspects, musical instruments, the main schools of classical dance, and drama. Besides the basic research described, the total project produced a set of 300 slides with annotated listing, picturing the…

Describes a study investigating the combined effect of certain variables on student achievement in classical mechanics. The purpose was to (1) describe preinstructional knowledge and skills; (2) correlate these variables with the student's success in learning classical mechanics; and (3) develop hypothesis about relationships between these…

Using holographic interferometry, we have determined the modes of vibration of a classical guitar (by the first author) having an asymmetrically-braced top plate and a crossed braced back of unique design. The vibrational modes and acoustical properties are compared with other classical guitars.

A few articles have appeared recently regarding the subject of the health of classical music (or more broadly, the fine arts) in America. These include "Classical Music's New Golden Age," by Heather Mac Donald, in the "City Journal" and "The Decline of the Audience," by Terry Teachout, in "Commentary." These articles appeared around the time of…

A text on the classical and folk dance of Spain includes a pretest, provided in both English and Spanish; text about the dance in general and the dance of Spain, both classical and folkloric; tests on the text, in both English and Spanish; more specific readings about the traditions of flamenco, castanets, and "el jaleo"; a glossary of flamenco…

Criticizes John Wilson's "Classics and Moral Education," in this issue, as being ambiguous and vague. The view here is that moral education would not derive automatically from classical studies but must be taught and developed, and based on a value system already present. (CHK)

Through an analysis of several stories, this paper defines the similarities and differences between classic and hard-boiled detective fiction. The characters and plots of three stories are discussed: "The Red House" by A. A. Milne; "I, The Jury" by Mickey Spillane; and "League of Frightened Men" by Rex Stout. The classic detective story is defined…

Several sources of phase noise, including spontaneous emission noise and the loss of coherence due to which-path information, are examined in the classical limit of high field intensities. Although the origin of these effects may appear to be quantum-mechanical in nature, it is found that classical analogies for these effects exist in the form of chaos.

The aim of this paper is to present the subject of state reconstruction in classical and in quantum physics, a subject that deals with the experimentally acquired information that allows the determination of the physical state of a system. Our first purpose is to explain a method for retrieving a classical state in phase space, similar to that…

Classics is in the news--or on the screen: "Gladiator" a few years ago, "Troy" very recently, "Alexander" as I write. How significant is this current Hollywood fascination with the ancient Greeks and Romans? Or should we take far more seriously the decline of the teaching of the Classical languages in schools, a decline so grave as to prompt a…

Decoherence is an essential mechanism that defines the boundary between classical and quantum behaviours, while imposing technological bounds for quantum devices. Little is known about quantum coherence of mechanical systems, as opposed to electromagnetic degrees of freedom. But decoherence can also be thought of in a purely classical context, as the loss of phase coherence in the classical phase space. Indeed the bridge between quantum and classical physics is under intense investigation, using, in particular, classical nanomechanical analogues of quantum phenomena. In the present work, by separating pure dephasing from dissipation, we quantitatively model the classical decoherence of a mechanical resonator: through the experimental control of frequency fluctuations, we engineer artificial dephasing. Building on the fruitful analogy introduced between spins/quantum bits and nanomechanical modes, we report on the methods available to define pure dephasing in these systems, while demonstrating the intrinsic almost-ideal properties of silicon nitride beams. These experimental and theoretical results, at the boundary between classical nanomechanics and quantum information fields, are prerequisite in the understanding of decoherence processes in mechanical devices, both classical and quantum.

The problem of classical data compression when the decoder has quantum side information at his disposal is considered. This is a quantum generalization of the classical Slepian-Wolf theorem. The optimal compression rate is found to be reduced from the Shannon entropy of the source by the Holevo information between the source and side information.

Recently some authors have pointed out that there exist nonclassical correlations which are more general, and possibly more fundamental, than entanglement. For these general quantum correlations and their classical counterparts, under the action of decoherence, we identify three general types of dynamics that include a peculiar sudden change in their decay rates. We show that, under suitable conditions, the classical correlation is unaffected by decoherence. Such dynamic behavior suggests an operational measure of both classical and quantum correlations that can be computed without any extremization procedur000.

We show that the weight functional for color sources in the classical theory of the color glass condensate (CGC) includes a term which generates odderon excitations. Remarkably, the classical origin of these excitations can be traced to the random walk of partons in the two dimensional space spanned by the SU(3) Casimirs. We compute dipole and baryon odderon operators in the CGC and show that contributions from the classical color sources to these are suppressed in the limit of very large parton densities.

Using concepts of geometric orthogonality and linear independence, we logically deduce the form of the Pauli spin matrices and the relationships between the three spatially orthogonal basis sets of the spin-1/2 system. Rather than a mathematically rigorous derivation, the relationships are found by forcing expectation values of the different basis states to have the properties we expect of a classical, geometric coordinate system. The process highlights the correspondence of quantum angular momentum with classical notions of geometric orthogonality, even for the inherently non-classical spin-1/2 system. In the process, differences in and connections between geometrical space and Hilbert space are illustrated.

Poisson's ratio, ν, was measured for four materials, a rubbery polymer, a conventional soft foam, and two auxetic foams. We find that for the first two materials, having ν ≥ 0.2, the experimental determinations of Poisson's ratio are in good agreement with values calculated from the shear and tensile moduli using the equations of classical elasticity. However, for the two auxetic materials (ν < 0), the equations of classical elasticity give values significantly different from the measured ν. We offer an interpretation of these results based on a recently published analysis of the bounds on Poisson's ratio for classical elasticity to be applicable.

Recently Mazenko and Das and Mazenko [Phys. Rev. E 81, 061102 (2010), 10.1103/PhysRevE.81.061102; J. Stat. Phys. 149, 643 (2012), 10.1007/s10955-012-0610-y; J. Stat. Phys. 152, 159 (2013), 10.1007/s10955-013-0755-3; Phys. Rev. E 83, 041125 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevE.83.041125] introduced a nonequilibrium field-theoretical approach to describe the statistical properties of a classical particle ensemble starting from the microscopic equations of motion of each individual particle. We use this theory to investigate the transition from those microscopic degrees of freedom to the evolution equations of the macroscopic observables of the ensemble. For the free theory, we recover the continuity and Jeans equations of a collisionless gas. For a theory containing two-particle interactions in a canonical perturbation series, we find the macroscopic evolution equations to be described by the Born-Bogoliubov-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon hierarchy with a truncation criterion depending on the order in perturbation theory. This establishes a direct link between the classical and the field-theoretical approaches to kinetic theory that might serve as a starting point to investigate kinetic theory beyond the classical limits.

Classical adaptive optics (AO) is now a widespread technique for high-resolution imaging with astronomical ground-based telescopes. It generally uses simple and efficient control algorithms. Multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) is a more recent and very promising technique that should extend the corrected field of view. This technique has not yet been experimentally validated, but simulations already show its high potential. The importance for MCAO of an optimal reconstruction using turbulence spatial statistics has already been demonstrated through open-loop simulations. We propose an optimal closed-loop control law that accounts for both spatial and temporal statistics. The prior information on the turbulence, as well as on the wave-front sensing noise, is expressed in a state-space model. The optimal phase estimation is then given by a Kalman filter. The equations describing the system are given and the underlying assumptions explained. The control law is then derived. The gain brought by this approach is demonstrated through MCAO numerical simulations representative of astronomical observation on a 8-m-class telescope in the near infrared. We also discuss the application of this control approach to classical AO. Even in classical AO, the technique could be relevant especially for future extreme AO systems.

Recently, it was predicted theoretically and verified experimentally that a pair of delayed and cross-polarized short laser pulses can create molecular ensembles with a well-defined sense of rotation (clockwise or counterclockwise). Here we provide a comparative study of the classical and quantum aspects of the underlying mechanism for linear molecules and for symmetric tops, like benzene molecules, that were used for the first experimental demonstration of the effect. Very good quantitative agreement is found between the classical description of the process and the rigorous quantum-mechanical analysis at the relevant experimental conditions. Both approaches predict the same optimal values for the delay between pulses and the angle between them, and deliver the same magnitude of the induced oriented angular momentum of the molecular ensemble. As expected, quantum and classical analyses substantially deviate when the delay between pulses is comparable with the period of quantum rotational revivals. However, time-averaged characteristics of the excited molecular ensemble are equally well described by these two approaches. This is illustrated by calculating the anisotropic time-averaged angular distribution of the double-pulse excited molecules, which reflects persistent confinement of the molecular axes to the rotation plane defined by two polarization vectors of the pulses.

Classical adaptive optics (AO) is now a widespread technique for high-resolution imaging with astronomical ground-based telescopes. It generally uses simple and efficient control algorithms. Multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) is a more recent and very promising technique that should extend the corrected field of view. This technique has not yet been experimentally validated, but simulations already show its high potential. The importance for MCAO of an optimal reconstruction using turbulence spatial statistics has already been demonstrated through open-loop simulations. We propose an optimal closed-loop control law that accounts for both spatial and temporal statistics. The prior information on the turbulence, as well as on the wave-front sensing noise, is expressed in a state-space model. The optimal phase estimation is then given by a Kalman filter. The equations describing the system are given and the underlying assumptions explained. The control law is then derived. The gain brought by this approach is demonstrated through MCAO numerical simulations representative of astronomical observation on a 8-m-class telescope in the near infrared. We also discuss the application of this control approach to classical AO. Even in classical AO, the technique could be relevant especially for future extreme AO systems. PMID:15260258

We measure high resolution photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) for above-threshold ionization of xenon atoms in infrared laser fields. Based on the Ammosov-Delone-Krainov theory, we develop an intuitive quantum-trajectory Monte Carlo model encoded with Feynman's path-integral approach, in which the Coulomb effect on electron trajectories and interference patterns are fully considered. We achieve a good agreement with the measured PADs of atoms for above-threshold ionization. The quantum-trajectory Monte Carlo theory sheds light on the role of ionic potential on PADs along the longitudinal and transverse direction with respect to the laser polarization, allowing us to unravel the classical coordinates (i.e., tunneling phase and initial momentum) at the tunnel exit for all of the photoelectrons of the PADs. We study the classical-quantum correspondence and build a bridge between the above-threshold ionization and the tunneling theory.

Summary The article examines the understandings of, and responses to, reproductive failure in the classical Greek world. It discusses explanations and treatments for non-procreation in a range of ancient Greek medical texts, focusing on the writings of the Hippocratic Corpus, which devote considerable energy to matters of fertility and generation, and places them alongside the availability of a divine approach to dealing with reproductive disruption, the possibility of asking various deities, including the specialist healing god Asclepius, for assistance in having children. Though the relations between these options are complex, they combine to produce a rich remedial array for those struggling with childlessness, the possibility that any impediment to procreation can be removed. Classical Greece, rather than the nineteenth century, or even 1978, is thus the time when “infertility,” understood as an essentially reversible somatic state, was invented. PMID:24362276

Global flux surface hopping (GFSH) generalizes fewest switches surface hopping (FSSH)—one of the most popular approaches to nonadiabatic molecular dynamics—for processes exhibiting superexchange. We show that GFSH satisfies detailed balance and leads to thermodynamic equilibrium with accuracy similar to FSSH. This feature is particularly important when studying electron-vibrational relaxation and phonon-assisted transport. By studying the dynamics in a three-level quantum system coupled to a classical atom in contact with a classical bath, we demonstrate that both FSSH and GFSH achieve the Boltzmann state populations. Thermal equilibrium is attained significantly faster with GFSH, since it accurately represents the superexchange process. GFSH converges closer to the Boltzmann averages than FSSH and exhibits significantly smaller statistical errors.

On August 15, 1978, the integrated parasite control/family planning program was launched by the National Family Planning Board in the Tanjong Malim Estate in Kuala Lumpur (the estate is a rubber oil palm plantation) to enhance the health status of the estate workers and their families. Personal hygiene, good toilet habits, and washing fruits and vegetables before eating were emphasized. Pre- and post-surveys of worm infestation of the estate population revealed that treatment with drugs dramatically reduced the rate of intestinal helminthiasis infection among the population. To sustain the prevention or total eradication of the disease, an ongoing educational program was initiated and included the following features: 1) increasing knowledge of the community as to how intestinal helminthiasis is transmitted, and ways of limiting transmission; 2) providing safe and sanitary toilet facilities for young children, and; 3) periodic deworming of susceptible population every 3 months. The estate members are also encouraged to plant vegetables in their backyard. The National Family Planning Board also helped the estate members organize different functional groups, such as Mothers' Group. This multifaceted approach to family planning appears to have an encouraging future, particularly in family development. PMID:12261448

Pérez Laraudogoitia (1996) presented an isolated system of infinitely many particles with infinite total mass whose total classical energy and momentum are not necessarily conserved in some particular inertial frame of reference. With a more generalized model Atkinson (2007) proved that a system of infinitely many balls with finite total mass may evolve so that its total classical energy and total relativistic energy and momentum are not conserved in any inertial frame of reference, and yet concluded that its total classical momentum is necessarily conserved. Contrary to this conclusion of Atkinson, I show that Atkinson's model has a solution in which the total momentum fails to be conserved in every inertial frame of reference. This result, combined with Atkinson's, demonstrates that both classical and relativistic mechanics allow the energy and momentum of a system of infinitely many components to fail to be conserved in every inertial frame of reference.

Different kinds of entropy associated with probability distribution functions characterizing the system state in classical and quantum domains are reviewed. Shannon entropy and Rényi entropy are discussed. The notion of tomographic entropy determined by the probability distribution in the phase space of the classical system and by the density operator of the quantum system is considered. Inequalities for the tomographic entropies in classical and quantum domains are studied, and a difference in the form of these inequalities in corresponding domains is suggested as a test to clarify the classicality and quantumness of the system state in quantum optics experiments. A new bound for tomographic entropy (ln πe)Φ(θ) depending on the local oscillator phase difference in homodyne photon detection experiments is discussed.

Describes how an English teacher in a Queens, New York, ghetto school introduced her grade nine students to Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations." Focuses on students' responses, which eventually became enthusiastic, and discusses the use of classics within the curriculum. (KH)

The synthesis of non-classical divalent lanthanide complexes, i.e. those not containing the classical samarium(II), europium(II) or ytterbium(II), was once thought impossible. Since 1997, when the first stable complex of thulium(II) was discovered, there has been many more examples of stable coordination and organometallic complexes of lanthanum(II), neodymium(II) and dysprosium(II) in addition to thulium(II), and the influence of the ligand system on the stability of the complexes is beginning to be understood. These non-classical divalent compounds show exceptional reactivity as some of them have been shown to activate dinitrogen at room temperature, together with related reduced divalent-like systems, and to undergo spontaneous intramolecular carbon-hydrogen bond activation. Many more examples of non-classical divalent compounds together with new aspects of their exciting reactivity should be discovered in the near future. PMID:20631944

We propose a secure protocol to send quantum information from one part to another without a quantum channel. In our protocol, which resembles quantum teleportation, a sender (Alice) and a receiver (Bob) share classical correlated states instead of EPR ones, with Alice performing measurements in two different bases and then communicating her results to Bob through a classical channel. Our secure quantum communication protocol requires the same amount of classical bits as the standard quantum teleportation protocol. In our scheme, as in the usual quantum teleportation protocol, once the classical channel is established in a secure way, a spy (Eve) will never be able to recover the information of the unknown quantum state, even if she is aware of Alice's measurement results. Security, advantages, and limitations of our protocol are discussed and compared with the standard quantum teleportation protocol.

This article describes three advances in classical genetics: improved pedigree charting, use of a standard of reference, and calculation of probabilities in complex assortment. Provides support for the importance of teaching these methods in addition to new techniques. (LZ)

We study an unorthodox variant of the Berezin-Toeplitz type of quantization scheme, on a reproducing kernel Hilbert space generated by the real Hermite polynomials and work out the associated quasi-classical asymptotics.

The definitions of classical and quantum singularities are reviewed. Examples are given of both as well as their utility in general relativity. In particular, the classical and quantum singularity structure of certain interesting conformally static spherically symmetric spacetimes modeling scalar field collapse are reviewed. The spacetimes include the Roberts spacetime, the Husain-Martinez-Nuñez spacetime and the Fonarev spacetime. The importance of understanding spacetime singularity structure is discussed.

In a fair comparison of the performance of a quantum algorithm to a classical one it is important to treat them on equal footing, both regarding resource usage and parallelism. We show how one may otherwise mistakenly attribute speedup due to parallelism as quantum speedup. We apply such an analysis both to analog quantum devices (quantum annealers) and gate model algorithms and give several examples where a careful analysis of parallelism makes a significant difference in the comparison between classical and quantum algorithms.

We appraise recent claims that classical gravitation can induce negative refraction of electromagnetic radiation in vacuum. By recasting the previous literature in covariant notation, we show that the criterion used hitherto for determining negative refraction in vacuum is inappropriate, and can even be satisfied by parametrized transformations in Minkowski spacetime. Using instead a covariantly acceptable definition, we find that in classical vacuum the power flux of a plane electromagnetic wave points in the direction of phase advance. PMID:17359145

It is shown that classic coarsening theory is unstable with respect to large-scale fluctuations of the linear dimension considerably exceeding the average intergrain distance and amplitudes of the order of the average values of the corresponding quantities. The consideration is based on reducing the classic theory equations to the form allowing the standard Fourier analysis to be employed. In the case of mobile nuclei, the tendency toward instability is shown to increase.

Bohmian mechanics is endowed with an ontological package that supposedly allows to solve the main interpretational problems of quantum mechanics. We are concerned in this work by the emergence of classicality from the quantum mechanical substrate. We will argue that although being superficially attractive, the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation does not shed new light on the quantum-to-classical transition. This is due to nature of the dynamical law of Bohmian mechanics by which the particles follow the streamlines of the probability flow. As a consequence, Bohmian trajectories can be highly non-classical even when the wavefunction propagates along classical trajectories, as happens in semiclassical systems. In order to account for classical dynamics, Bohmian mechanics needs non-spreading and non-interfering wave packets: this is achieved for practical purposes by having recourse to decoherence and dense measurements. However one then faces the usual fundamental problems associated with the meaning of reduced density matrices. Moreover the specific assets of the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation - in particular the existence of point-like particles pursuing well-defined trajectories - would play no role in accounting for the emergence of classical dynamics.

A string action which is essentially a Willmore functional is presented and studied. This action determines the physics of a surface in Euclidean three space which can be used to model classical string configurations. By varying this action an equation of motion for the mean curvature of the surface is obtained which is shown to govern certain classical string configurations. Several classes of classical solutions for this equation are discussed from the symmetry group point of view and an application is presented.

Background We present an overview of bacterial non-classical secretion and a prediction method for identification of proteins following signal peptide independent secretion pathways. We have compiled a list of proteins found extracellularly despite the absence of a signal peptide. Some of these proteins also have known roles in the cytoplasm, which means they could be so-called "moon-lightning" proteins having more than one function. Results A thorough literature search was conducted to compile a list of currently known bacterial non-classically secreted proteins. Pattern finding methods were applied to the sequences in order to identify putative signal sequences or motifs responsible for their secretion. We have found no signal or motif characteristic to any majority of the proteins in the compiled list of non-classically secreted proteins, and conclude that these proteins, indeed, seem to be secreted in a novel fashion. However, we also show that the apparently non-classically secreted proteins are still distinguished from cellular proteins by properties such as amino acid composition, secondary structure and disordered regions. Specifically, prediction of disorder reveals that bacterial secretory proteins are more structurally disordered than their cytoplasmic counterparts. Finally, artificial neural networks were used to construct protein feature based methods for identification of non-classically secreted proteins in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Conclusion We present a publicly available prediction method capable of discriminating between this group of proteins and other proteins, thus allowing for the identification of novel non-classically secreted proteins. We suggest candidates for non-classically secreted proteins in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. The prediction method is available online. PMID:16212653

The so-called fish-eye model, originally investigated by Maxwell in geometrical optics, is studied both in the classical as well as in the quantum formulations. The best agreement between the two approaches is achieved by using a suitably constructed coherent state, which is of the SU(2) type. The perfect quantum-classical correspondence is obtained in the sense that classical rays go exactly over maxima of the corresponding quantum probability distributions. The distributions are made of linear combinations of the E=0 bound states of the considered model.

We propose examples of a hybrid quantum-classical simulation where a classical computer assisted by a small quantum processor can efficiently simulate a larger quantum system. First, we consider sparse quantum circuits such that each qubit participates in O (1 ) two-qubit gates. It is shown that any sparse circuit on n +k qubits can be simulated by sparse circuits on n qubits and a classical processing that takes time 2O (k )poly (n ) . Second, we study Pauli-based computation (PBC), where allowed operations are nondestructive eigenvalue measurements of n -qubit Pauli operators. The computation begins by initializing each qubit in the so-called magic state. This model is known to be equivalent to the universal quantum computer. We show that any PBC on n +k qubits can be simulated by PBCs on n qubits and a classical processing that takes time 2O (k )poly (n ). Finally, we propose a purely classical algorithm that can simulate a PBC on n qubits in a time 2α npoly (n ) , where α ≈0.94 . This improves upon the brute-force simulation method, which takes time 2npoly (n ). Our algorithm exploits the fact that n -fold tensor products of magic states admit a low-rank decomposition into n -qubit stabilizer states.

A classical field theory is proposed for the electric current and the electromagnetic field interpolating between microscopic and macroscopic domains. It represents a generalization of the density functional for the dynamics of the current and the electromagnetic field in the quantum side of the crossover and reproduces standard classical electrodynamics on the other side. The effective action derived in the closed time path formalism and the equations of motion follow from the variational principle. The polarization of the Dirac-sea can be taken into account in the quadratic approximation of the action by the introduction of the deplacement field strengths as in conventional classical electrodynamics. Decoherence appears naturally as a simple one-loop effect in this formalism. It is argued that the radiation time arrow is generated from the quantum boundary conditions in time by decoherence at the quantum-classical crossover and the Abraham-Lorentz force arises from the accelerating charge or from other charges in the macroscopic or the microscopic side, respectively. The functional form of the quantum renormalization group, the generalization of the renormalization group method for the density matrix, is proposed to follow the scale dependence through the quantum-classical crossover in a systematical manner.

Recent advances in quantum technology have led to the development and manufacturing of experimental programmable quantum annealing optimizers that contain hundreds of quantum bits. These optimizers, commonly referred to as 'D-Wave' chips, promise to solve practical optimization problems potentially faster than conventional 'classical' computers. Attempts to quantify the quantum nature of these chips have been met with both excitement and skepticism but have also brought up numerous fundamental questions pertaining to the distinguishability of experimental quantum annealers from their classical thermal counterparts. Inspired by recent results in spin-glass theory that recognize 'temperature chaos' as the underlying mechanism responsible for the computational intractability of hard optimization problems, we devise a general method to quantify the performance of quantum annealers on optimization problems suffering from varying degrees of temperature chaos: A superior performance of quantum annealers over classical algorithms on these may allude to the role that quantum effects play in providing speedup. We utilize our method to experimentally study the D-Wave Two chip on different temperature-chaotic problems and find, surprisingly, that its performance scales unfavorably as compared to several analogous classical algorithms. We detect, quantify and discuss several purely classical effects that possibly mask the quantum behavior of the chip. PMID:26483257

The effective Lagrangian of a point charge is derived by eliminating the electromagnetic field within the framework of the classical closed time path formalism. The short distance singularity of the electromagnetic field is regulated by an UV cutoff. The Abraham–Lorentz force is recovered and its similarity to quantum anomalies is underlined. The full cutoff-dependent linearized equation of motion is obtained, no runaway trajectories are found but the effective dynamics shows acausality if the cutoff is beyond the classical charge radius. The strength of the radiation reaction force displays a pole in its cutoff-dependence in a manner reminiscent of the Landau-pole of perturbative QED. Similarity between the dynamical breakdown of the time reversal invariance and dynamical symmetry breaking is pointed out. -- Highlights: •Extension of the classical action principle for dissipative systems. •New derivation of the Abraham–Lorentz force for a point charge. •Absence of a runaway solution of the Abraham–Lorentz force. •Acausality in classical electrodynamics. •Renormalization of classical electrodynamics of point charges.

A quantum phase transition (QPT) is an inherently dynamic phenomenon. However, while non-dissipative quantum dynamics is described in detail, the question, that is not thoroughly understood is how the omnipresent dissipative processes enter the critical dynamics near a quantum critical point (QCP). Here we report a general approach enabling inclusion of both adiabatic and dissipative processes into the critical dynamics on the same footing. We reveal three distinct critical modes, the adiabatic quantum mode (AQM), the dissipative classical mode [classical critical dynamics mode (CCDM)], and the dissipative quantum critical mode (DQCM). We find that as a result of the transitionmore » from the regime dominated by thermal fluctuations to that governed by the quantum ones, the system acquires effective dimension d+zΛ(T), where z is the dynamical exponent, and temperature-depending parameter Λ(T)ε[0, 1] decreases with the temperature such that Λ(T=0) = 1 and Λ(T →∞) = 0. Lastly, our findings lead to a unified picture of quantum critical phenomena including both dissipation- and dissipationless quantum dynamic effects and offer a quantitative description of the quantum-to-classical crossover.« less

A quantum phase transition (QPT) is an inherently dynamic phenomenon. However, while non-dissipative quantum dynamics is described in detail, the question, that is not thoroughly understood is how the omnipresent dissipative processes enter the critical dynamics near a quantum critical point (QCP). Here we report a general approach enabling inclusion of both adiabatic and dissipative processes into the critical dynamics on the same footing. We reveal three distinct critical modes, the adiabatic quantum mode (AQM), the dissipative classical mode [classical critical dynamics mode (CCDM)], and the dissipative quantum critical mode (DQCM). We find that as a result of the transition from the regime dominated by thermal fluctuations to that governed by the quantum ones, the system acquires effective dimension d + zΛ(T), where z is the dynamical exponent, and temperature-depending parameter Λ(T) ∈ [0, 1] decreases with the temperature such that Λ(T = 0) = 1 and Λ(T → ∞) = 0. Our findings lead to a unified picture of quantum critical phenomena including both dissipation- and dissipationless quantum dynamic effects and offer a quantitative description of the quantum-to-classical crossover.

A quantum phase transition (QPT) is an inherently dynamic phenomenon. However, while non-dissipative quantum dynamics is described in detail, the question, that is not thoroughly understood is how the omnipresent dissipative processes enter the critical dynamics near a quantum critical point (QCP). Here we report a general approach enabling inclusion of both adiabatic and dissipative processes into the critical dynamics on the same footing. We reveal three distinct critical modes, the adiabatic quantum mode (AQM), the dissipative classical mode [classical critical dynamics mode (CCDM)], and the dissipative quantum critical mode (DQCM). We find that as a result of the transition from the regime dominated by thermal fluctuations to that governed by the quantum ones, the system acquires effective dimension d + zΛ(T), where z is the dynamical exponent, and temperature-depending parameter Λ(T) ∈ [0, 1] decreases with the temperature such that Λ(T = 0) = 1 and Λ(T → ∞) = 0. Our findings lead to a unified picture of quantum critical phenomena including both dissipation- and dissipationless quantum dynamic effects and offer a quantitative description of the quantum-to-classical crossover. PMID:26688102

A quantum phase transition (QPT) is an inherently dynamic phenomenon. However, while non-dissipative quantum dynamics is described in detail, the question, that is not thoroughly understood is how the omnipresent dissipative processes enter the critical dynamics near a quantum critical point (QCP). Here we report a general approach enabling inclusion of both adiabatic and dissipative processes into the critical dynamics on the same footing. We reveal three distinct critical modes, the adiabatic quantum mode (AQM), the dissipative classical mode [classical critical dynamics mode (CCDM)], and the dissipative quantum critical mode (DQCM). We find that as a result of the transition from the regime dominated by thermal fluctuations to that governed by the quantum ones, the system acquires effective dimension d+zΛ(T), where z is the dynamical exponent, and temperature-depending parameter Λ(T)ε[0, 1] decreases with the temperature such that Λ(T=0) = 1 and Λ(T →∞) = 0. Lastly, our findings lead to a unified picture of quantum critical phenomena including both dissipation- and dissipationless quantum dynamic effects and offer a quantitative description of the quantum-to-classical crossover.

Summary Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the roles of the accessory respiratory muscles, latissimus dorsi (LD), and sternocleidomastoid, in classical singing. Methods Electromyography was used to record the activity of these muscles in six classically trained female singers carrying out a number of singing and nonsinging tasks. Movements of the chest and abdominal walls were monitored simultaneously using inductive plethysmography, and the sound of the phonations was recorded. Results In normal breathing, LD is active transiently during very deep inhalations and in inhalation against resistance. During exhalation it becomes active again as residual capacity is approached or when air is expelled with great force. Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) supports inhalation when lung volume nears 100% vital capacity or when this is very rapid. All singers engaged LD in supported singing where it was associated with maintaining an expanded thorax. In coloratura singing, pulses of activity of increasing amplitude were often seen in LD toward the end of the breath. These were synchronized with each note. During a short phrase typical of the end of an aria, which was sung at full volume with the projected voice, both LD and SCM were active simultaneously. Spectral analysis of muscle activity demonstrated that in some singers, activity in LD and more rarely SCM, fluctuated in phase with vibrato. Conclusions LD appears to play a significant role in maintaining chest expansion and the dynamic processes underlying vibrato and coloratura singing in classically trained singers. PMID:21724365

As part of the Light-Water Sustainability Program (LWRS), the purpose of the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway research and development is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margin management with the aim to improve economics, reliability, and sustain the safety of current NPPs. In this paper, we describe the RISMC analysis process illustrating how mechanistic (i.e., dynamic system simulators) and probabilistic (stochastic sampling strategies) approaches are combined in a dynamic PRA fashion in order to estimate safety margins. We use the scenario of a “station blackout” (SBO) wherein offsite power and onsite power are lost, thereby causing a challenge to plant safety systems. We describe the RISMC approach, illustrate the station blackout modeling, and compare this with traditional risk analysis modeling for this type of accident scenario. In the RISMC approach the dataset obtained consists of set of simulation runs (performed by using codes such as RELAP5/3D) where timing and ordering of events is changed accordingly to the stochastic sampling strategy adopted. On the other side, classical PRA methods, which are based on event-tree (FT) and fault-tree (FT) structures, generate minimal cut sets and probability values associated to each ET branch. The comparison of the classical and RISMC approaches is performed not only in terms of overall core damage probability but also considering statistical differences in the actual sequence of events. The outcome of this comparison analysis shows similarities and dissimilarities between the approaches but also highlights the greater amount of information that can be generated by using the RISMC approach.

Antonov's classical problem of stability of a collisionless sphere with a purely radial motion of stars is considered as a limit of the problem in which stars move in nearly radial orbits. We provide the proper limiting equations that take into account the singularity in the density distribution at the sphere center and give their solutions. We show that there is instability for even and odd spherical harmonics, with all unstable modes being not slow. The growth rates of aperiodic even modes increase indefinitely when approaching purely radial models. The physics of the radial orbit instability is discussed.

With the help of light cone coordinates and light cone field representations of Maxwell's classical equations, quantum polarization entanglement is explained using the relativistic results of a companion paper that shows how conventional or reference waves can have an adjoint wave, travelling in phase with the reference wave, but in a proper relativistic frame that travels in the opposing direction to the proper frame of the reference wave. This subsequently allows waves, travelling in opposite directions, to have the same proper frame and consequently such waves can be regarded as relativistically local. The light cone coordinates offer a classical form of a quantum wave function and demonstrate a classical equivalent of a mixed quantum state.

Motivated by recent experiments on Na4Ir3O8 [Y. Okamoto, M. Nohara, H. Aruga-Katori, and H. Takagi, arXiv:0705.2821 (unpublished)], we study the classical antiferromagnet on a frustrated three-dimensional lattice obtained by selectively removing one of four sites in each tetrahedron of the pyrochlore lattice. This "hyperkagome" lattice consists of corner-sharing triangles. We present the results of large-N mean field theory and Monte Carlo computations on O(N) classical spin models. It is found that the classical ground states are highly degenerate. Nonetheless a nematic order emerges at low temperatures in the Heisenberg model (N=3) via "order by disorder," representing the dominance of coplanar spin configurations. Implications for ongoing experiments are discussed. PMID:17678320

In a previous paper [J. S. Briggs and A. Eisfeld, Phys. Rev. APLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.85.052111 85, 052111 (2012)] we showed that the time development of the complex amplitudes of N coupled quantum states can be mapped by the time development of positions and velocities of N coupled classical oscillators. Here we examine to what extent this mapping can be realized to simulate the “quantum,” properties of entanglement and qubit manipulation. By working through specific examples, e.g., of quantum gate operation, we seek to illuminate quantum and classical differences which hitherto have been treated more mathematically. In addition, we show that important quantum coupled phenomena, such as the Landau-Zener transition and the occurrence of Fano resonances can be simulated by classical oscillators.

Specific isoforms from the carbonic anhydrase (CA) family of zinc metalloenzymes have been associated with a variety of diseases. Isoform-specific carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) are therefore a major focus of attention for specific disease treatments. Classical CAIs, primarily sulfonamide-based compounds and their bioisosteres, are examined as antiglaucoma, antiepileptic, antiobesity, antineuropathic pain and anticancer compounds. However, many sulfonamide compounds inhibit all CA isoforms nonspecifically, diluting drug effectiveness and causing undesired side effects due to off-target inhibition. In addition, a small but significant percentage of the general population cannot be treated with sulfonamide-based compounds due to a sulfa allergy. Therefore, CAIs must be developed that are not only isoform specific, but also non-classical, i.e. not based on sulfonamides, sulfamates, or sulfamides. This review covers the classes of non-classical CAIs and the recent advances in the development of isoform-specific inhibitors based on phenols, polyamines, coumarins and their derivatives. PMID:27438828

Double electromagnetically induced transparency (DEIT) in a four-level atomic system with tripod-type energy-level configuration is modeled by using two classical systems. The first is a set of three coupled harmonic oscillators subject to frictional forces and external drives and the second is a set of three coupled RLC circuits with electric resistors and alternating voltage sources. It is shown that both of the two classical systems have absorption spectra of DEIT similar to that of the four-level tripod-type atomic system. These classical analogies provide simple and intuitive physical description of quantum interference processes and can be used to illustrate experimental observations of the DEIT in quantum systems.

We construct a manifestly diffeomorphism invariant Wilsonian (Exact) Renor-malization Group for classical gravity, and begin the construction for quantum gravity. We demonstrate that the effective action can be computed without gauge fixing the diffeo-morphism invariance, and also without introducing a background space-time. We compute classical contributions both within a background-independent framework and by perturbing around a fixed background, and verify that the results are equivalent. We derive the exact Ward identities for actions and kernels and verify consistency. We formulate two forms of the flow equation corresponding to the two choices of classical fixed-point: the Gaussian fixed point, and the scale invariant interacting fixed point using curvature-squared terms. We suggest how this programme may completed to a fully quantum construction.

Specific isoforms from the carbonic anhydrase (CA) family of zinc metalloenzymes have been associated with a variety of diseases. Isoform-specific carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) are therefore a major focus of attention for specific disease treatments. Classical CAIs, primarily sulfonamide-based compounds and their bioisosteres, are examined as antiglaucoma, antiepileptic, antiobesity, antineuropathic pain and anticancer compounds. However, many sulfonamide compounds inhibit all CA isoforms nonspecifically, diluting drug effectiveness and causing undesired side effects due to off-target inhibition. In addition, a small but significant percentage of the general population cannot be treated with sulfonamide-based compounds due to a sulfa allergy. Therefore, CAIs must be developed that are not only isoform specific, but also non-classical, i.e. not based on sulfonamides, sulfamates, or sulfamides. This review covers the classes of non-classical CAIs and the recent advances in the development of isoform-specific inhibitors based on phenols, polyamines, coumarins and their derivatives. PMID:27438828

In the present article the fact is emphasized that neuropeptides often are located in the same neurons as classical transmitters such as acetylcholine, 5-hydroxy-tryptamine, catecholamines, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) etc. This raises the possibility that neurons produce, store and release more than one messenger molecule. The exact functional role of such coexisting peptides is often difficult to evaluate, especially in the central nervous system. In the periphery some studies indicate apparently meaningful interactions of different types with the classical transmitter, but other types of actions including trophic effects have been observed. More recently it has been shown that some neurons contain more than one classical transmitter, e.g. 5-HT plus GABA, further underlining the view that transfer of information across synapses may be more complex than perhaps hitherto assumed. PMID:2885215

Quantum optics and classical optics are linked in ways that are becoming apparent as a result of numerous recent detailed examinations of the relationships that elementary notions of optics have with each other. These elementary notions include interference, polarization, coherence, complementarity and entanglement. All of them are present in both quantum and classical optics. They have historic origins, and at least partly for this reason not all of them have quantitative definitions that are universally accepted. This makes further investigation into their engagement in optics very desirable. We pay particular attention to effects that arise from the mere co-existence of separately identifiable and readily available vector spaces. Exploitation of these vector-space relationships are shown to have unfamiliar theoretical implications and new options for observation. It is our goal to bring emerging quantum–classical links into wider view and to indicate directions in which forthcoming and future work will promote discussion and lead to unified understanding.

Evaluation of the Wigner phase space density for systems of many degrees of freedom presents an extremely demanding task because of the oscillatory nature of the Fourier-type integral. We propose a simple and efficient, approximate procedure for generating the Wigner distribution that avoids the computational difficulties associated with the Wigner transform. Starting from a suitable zeroth-order Hamiltonian, for which the Wigner density is available (either analytically or numerically), the phase space distribution is propagated in time via classical trajectories, while the perturbation is gradually switched on. According to the classical adiabatic theorem, each trajectory maintains a constant action if the perturbation is switched on infinitely slowly. We show that the adiabatic switching procedure produces the exact Wigner density for harmonic oscillator eigenstates and also for eigenstates of anharmonic Hamiltonians within the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. We generalize the approach to finite temperature by introducing a density rescaling factor that depends on the energy of each trajectory. Time-dependent properties are obtained simply by continuing the integration of each trajectory under the full target Hamiltonian. Further, by construction, the generated approximate Wigner distribution is invariant under classical propagation, and thus, thermodynamic properties are strictly preserved. Numerical tests on one-dimensional and dissipative systems indicate that the method produces results in very good agreement with those obtained by full quantum mechanical methods over a wide temperature range. The method is simple and efficient, as it requires no input besides the force fields required for classical trajectory integration, and is ideal for use in quasiclassical trajectory calculations. PMID:26395694

Evaluation of the Wigner phase space density for systems of many degrees of freedom presents an extremely demanding task because of the oscillatory nature of the Fourier-type integral. We propose a simple and efficient, approximate procedure for generating the Wigner distribution that avoids the computational difficulties associated with the Wigner transform. Starting from a suitable zeroth-order Hamiltonian, for which the Wigner density is available (either analytically or numerically), the phase space distribution is propagated in time via classical trajectories, while the perturbation is gradually switched on. According to the classical adiabatic theorem, each trajectory maintains a constant action if the perturbation is switched on infinitely slowly. We show that the adiabatic switching procedure produces the exact Wigner density for harmonic oscillator eigenstates and also for eigenstates of anharmonic Hamiltonians within the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. We generalize the approach to finite temperature by introducing a density rescaling factor that depends on the energy of each trajectory. Time-dependent properties are obtained simply by continuing the integration of each trajectory under the full target Hamiltonian. Further, by construction, the generated approximate Wigner distribution is invariant under classical propagation, and thus, thermodynamic properties are strictly preserved. Numerical tests on one-dimensional and dissipative systems indicate that the method produces results in very good agreement with those obtained by full quantum mechanical methods over a wide temperature range. The method is simple and efficient, as it requires no input besides the force fields required for classical trajectory integration, and is ideal for use in quasiclassical trajectory calculations.

Evaluation of the Wigner phase space density for systems of many degrees of freedom presents an extremely demanding task because of the oscillatory nature of the Fourier-type integral. We propose a simple and efficient, approximate procedure for generating the Wigner distribution that avoids the computational difficulties associated with the Wigner transform. Starting from a suitable zeroth-order Hamiltonian, for which the Wigner density is available (either analytically or numerically), the phase space distribution is propagated in time via classical trajectories, while the perturbation is gradually switched on. According to the classical adiabatic theorem, each trajectory maintains a constant action if the perturbation is switched on infinitely slowly. We show that the adiabatic switching procedure produces the exact Wigner density for harmonic oscillator eigenstates and also for eigenstates of anharmonic Hamiltonians within the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. We generalize the approach to finite temperature by introducing a density rescaling factor that depends on the energy of each trajectory. Time-dependent properties are obtained simply by continuing the integration of each trajectory under the full target Hamiltonian. Further, by construction, the generated approximate Wigner distribution is invariant under classical propagation, and thus, thermodynamic properties are strictly preserved. Numerical tests on one-dimensional and dissipative systems indicate that the method produces results in very good agreement with those obtained by full quantum mechanical methods over a wide temperature range. The method is simple and efficient, as it requires no input besides the force fields required for classical trajectory integration, and is ideal for use in quasiclassical trajectory calculations.

Eternal inflation arising from a potential landscape predicts that our universe is one realization of many possible cosmological histories. One way to access different cosmological histories is via the nucleation of bubble universes from a metastable false vacuum. Another way to sample different cosmological histories is via classical transitions, the creation of pocket universes through the collision between bubbles. Using relativistic numerical simulations, we examine the possibility of observationally determining if our observable universe resulted from a classical transition. We find that classical transitions produce spatially infinite, approximately open Friedman-Robertson-Walker universes. The leading set of observables in the aftermath of a classical transition are negative spatial curvature and a contribution to the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature quadrupole. The level of curvature and magnitude of the quadrupole are dependent on the position of the observer, and we determine the possible range of observables for two classes of single-scalar field models. For the first class, where the inflationary phase has a lower energy than the vacuum preceding the classical transition, the magnitude of the observed quadrupole generally falls to zero with distance from the collision while the spatial curvature grows to a constant. For the second class, where the inflationary phase has a higher energy than the vacuum preceding the classical transition, the magnitude of the observed quadrupole generically falls to zero with distance from the collision while the spatial curvature grows without bound. We find that the magnitude of the quadrupole and curvature grow with increasing centre of mass energy of the collision, and explore variations of the parameters in the scalar field lagrangian.

Secure communication based on message encryption might be performed by combining the message with controlled noise (called pseudo-noise) as performed in spread-spectrum communication used presently in Wi-Fi and smartphone telecommunication systems. Quantum communication based on entanglement is another route for securing communications as demonstrated by several important experiments described in this work. The central role played by the photon in unifying the description of classical and quantum noise as major ingredients of secure communication systems is highlighted and described on the basis of the classical and quantum fluctuation dissipation theorems.

We study the classical dynamics of a particle in nonrelativistic Snyder-de Sitter space. We show that for spherically symmetric systems, parameterizing the solutions in terms of an auxiliary time variable, which is a function only of the physical time and of the energy and angular momentum of the particles, one can reduce the problem to the equivalent one in classical mechanics. We also discuss a relativistic extension of these results, and a generalization to the case in which the algebra is realized in flat space.

The relaxation properties of a small classical system weakly coupled to a large classical system which acts as a heat bath are described using a generalized Fokker-Planck equation. The Fokker-Planck equation is derived in general using a modification of the elimination of fast variables techniques previously described. The specific example in which the small system is a harmonic oscillator linearly coupled to the heat bath is treated in detail and it is demonstrated that there is a dynamic frequency shift as well as a statistical shift of the oscillator frequency.

Quantum steering is observed when performing appropriate local measurements on an entangled state. Here we discuss the possibility of simulating classically this effect, using classical communication instead of entanglement. We show that infinite communication is necessary for exactly simulating steering for any pure entangled state, as well as for a class of mixed entangled states. Moreover, we discuss the communication cost of steering for general entangled states, as well as approximate simulation. Our findings reveal striking differences between Bell nonlocality and steering and provide a natural way of measuring the strength of the latter.

We study the effects of post-selection measurements on both the non-classicality of the state of a mechanical oscillator and the entanglement between two mechanical systems that are part of a distributed optomechanical network. We address the cases of both Gaussian and non-Gaussian measurements, identifying in which cases simple photon counting and Geiger-like measurements are effective in distilling a strongly non-classical mechanical state and enhancing the purely mechanical entanglement between two elements of the network.

A theorem is formulated that Galilei group is that of Maxwell equation exact symmetry group, providing the fields are transformed by nonlinear representation of this group. Galilei symmetry differs from the relativistic one in the fact that relativistic symmetry is manifested while postulating the light velocity invariance, whereas Galilei symmetry is manifested during postulating time invariance. In relativistic case the field transformations are linear and global, in Galilei case they are nonlinear and evidently depend on time and coordinates. Existence of Galilei symmetry for Maxwell equations means that in a certain sense, Galilei relativity principle holds not only in classical mechanics but in classical electrodynamics too.

We present a new method for calculating quantum mechanical corrections to classical free energies, based on thermodynamic integration from classical to quantum mechanics. In contrast to previous methods, our method is numerically stable even in the presence of strong quantum delocalization. We first illustrate the method and its relationship to a well-established method with an analysis of a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator. We then show that our method can be used to calculate the quantum mechanical contributions to the free energies of ice and water for a flexible water model, a problem for which the established method is unstable.

Classic Hodgkin's lymphoma is characterized by the appearance of giant abnormal cells called Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells. HRS cells arise from germinal center B lymphocytes and in about 50 percent of patients, are infected with Epstein-Barr Virus. In addition, HRS cells show constitutive NF-kappaB activation and are resistant to apoptosis. This paper reviews several recent studies that for the first time implicate specific molecules in the pathogenesis of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma. Targeting these molecules could lead to the development of novel therapies for this disease. PMID:16720015

The classical differential cross-section is calculated for high-energy small-angle gravitational scattering in the factorizable model with toroidal extra dimensions. The three main features of the classical computation are: (a) It involves summation over the infinite Kaluza-Klein towers but, contrary to the Born amplitude, it is finite with no need of an ultraviolet cutoff. (b) It is shown to correspond to the non-perturbative saddle-point approximation of the eikonal amplitude, obtained by the summation of an infinite number of ladder graphs of the quantum theory. (c) In the absence of extra dimensions it reproduces all previously known results.

The use of engine diagnostic techniques in research on the reciprocating internal combustion engine has contributed substantially to engine progress over the years. Many of these techniques were developed before the advent of the laser, and most engine research still uses these classical methods. This paper provides historical snapshots of efforts to understand flame propagation and knock in homogeneous-charge engines, and fuel-air mixing and some of its ramifications in diesels. Such a review demonstrates the accomplishments facilitated by measurement of pressure, temperature, fluid motions, and chemistry within the cylinder. A critique of these classical diagnostics is then offered.

A recently developed classical model for electronically nonadiabatic collision processes is applied to electronic-vibrational energy transfer in a collinear atom~diatom system, A + BC(v=1) + A*+ BC(v=0), which closely resembles Br-H{sub 2}. This classical model, which treats electronic as well as heavy particle (i.e., translation, rotation, and vibration) degrees of freedom by classical mechanics, is found to describe the resonance features in this process reasonably well. The usefulness of the approach is that it allows one to extend standard Monte Carlo classical trajectory methodology to include electronically non-adiabatic processes in a dynamically consistent way,

It is noted that the phenomenon of entanglement is not a prerogative of quantum systems, but also occurs in other, non-classical systems such as quantum-classical hybrids, and covers the concept of entanglement as a special type of global constraint imposed upon a broad class of dynamical systems. Application of hybrid systems for physics of life, as well as for quantum-inspired computing, has been outlined. In representing the Schroedinger equation in the Madelung form, there is feedback from the Liouville equation to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the form of the quantum potential. Preserving the same topology, the innovators replaced the quantum potential with other types of feedback, and investigated the property of these hybrid systems. A function of probability density has been introduced. Non-locality associated with a global geometrical constraint that leads to an entanglement effect was demonstrated. Despite such a quantum like characteristic, the hybrid can be of classical scale and all the measurements can be performed classically. This new emergence of entanglement sheds light on the concept of non-locality in physics.

Highlights: > Map of classical statistical Ising model to fermionic quantum field theory. > Lattice-regularized real Grassmann functional integral for single Weyl spinor. > Emerging complex structure characteristic for quantum physics. > A classical statistical ensemble describes a quantum theory. - Abstract: We construct a map between the quantum field theory of free Weyl or Majorana fermions and the probability distribution of a classical statistical ensemble for Ising spins or discrete bits. More precisely, a Grassmann functional integral based on a real Grassmann algebra specifies the time evolution of the real wave function q{sub {tau}}(t) for the Ising states {tau}. The time dependent probability distribution of a generalized Ising model obtains as p{sub {tau}}(t)=q{sub {tau}}{sup 2}(t). The functional integral employs a lattice regularization for single Weyl or Majorana spinors. We further introduce the complex structure characteristic for quantum mechanics. Probability distributions of the Ising model which correspond to one or many propagating fermions are discussed explicitly. Expectation values of observables can be computed equivalently in the classical statistical Ising model or in the quantum field theory for fermions.

Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8…

The founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem describes his own professional development and discusses how Martin Luther King's assassination led him to make a commitment to the people of Harlem, to the untapped talents of Black artists, and to breaking the traditional barrier against Black dancers in classical ballet. (CMG)

This article reports the results of a survey, funded by the American Classical League (ACL) and conducted during 1990-91, that assessed attitudes toward high school foreign-language study, in particular the study of Latin and Greek, in the college admissions process. (21 references) (VWL)

This article focuses on Louis Guttman's contributions to the classical theory of educational and psychological tests, one of the lesser known of his many contributions to quantitative methods in the social sciences. Guttman's work in this field provided a rigorous mathematical basis for ideas that, for many decades after Spearman's initial work,…

Comparisons are made for the particle-in-a-box, the harmonic oscillator, and the one-electron atom. A classical uncertainty principle is derived and compared with its quantum-mechanical counterpart. The results are discussed in terms of the statistical interpretation of the uncertainty principle. (Author/BB)

Historically, calculus has displaced many algebraic methods for solving classical problems. This article illustrates an algebraic method for finding the zeros of polynomial functions that is closely related to Newton's method (devised in 1669, published in 1711), which is encountered in calculus. By exploring this problem, precalculus students…

We have heard many times that the commonsense world of classical physics was shattered by Einstein's revelation of the laws of relativity. This is certainly true; the shift from our everyday notions of time and space to those revealed by relativity is one of the greatest stretches the mind can make. What is seldom appreciated is that the laws of…

Reviews the history of classical linguistic studies in the United States. Cites many of the important American classicists from the nineteenth century to the present. Also gives the history of some scholarly organizations, including the Linguistic Society of America and the American Philological Association. (LMO)

Recent advances in quantum technology have led to the development and manufacturing of experimental programmable quantum annealing optimizers that contain hundreds of quantum bits. These optimizers, commonly referred to as ‘D-Wave’ chips, promise to solve practical optimization problems potentially faster than conventional ‘classical’ computers. Attempts to quantify the quantum nature of these chips have been met with both excitement and skepticism but have also brought up numerous fundamental questions pertaining to the distinguishability of experimental quantum annealers from their classical thermal counterparts. Inspired by recent results in spin-glass theory that recognize ‘temperature chaos’ as the underlying mechanism responsible for the computational intractability of hard optimization problems, we devise a general method to quantify the performance of quantum annealers on optimization problems suffering from varying degrees of temperature chaos: A superior performance of quantum annealers over classical algorithms on these may allude to the role that quantum effects play in providing speedup. We utilize our method to experimentally study the D-Wave Two chip on different temperature-chaotic problems and find, surprisingly, that its performance scales unfavorably as compared to several analogous classical algorithms. We detect, quantify and discuss several purely classical effects that possibly mask the quantum behavior of the chip. PMID:26483257

Using only fairly simple and elementary considerations--essentially from first year undergraduate mathematics--we show how the classical Stokes' theorem for any given surface and vector field in R[superscript 3] follows from an application of Gauss' divergence theorem to a suitable modification of the vector field in a tubular shell around the…

An investigation of the various ways the term "topos" is used in classical rhetoric reveals the limited range of invention strategies offered by academic discourse pedagogy. Donald Bartholmae's work on basic writing addresses the relationship of the commonplace to topical invention within academic discourse. Investigation of the history of…

We study a family of integrable systems of nonlinearly coupled harmonic oscillators on the classical and quantum levels. We show that the integrability of these systems follows from their symmetry characterized by algebras, here called Kummer shape algebras. The resolution of identity for a wide class of reproducing kernels is found. A number of examples, illustrating this theory, are also presented.

The erosion of the credibility of the classical diffusion paradigm by recent challenges to its fundamental assumptions has resulted in a "paradigmatic crisis" as related to research on the diffusion of agricultural innovations. Such basic assumptions as that of a harmonious and cooperative society and of agricultural research guided by endogenous…

This book presents 16 original scripts that have been adapted from classic works of literature for use for readers theatre with young adults and ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Adaptations of the following works are included: "Little Women" (Louisa May Alcott); episodes from "Don Quixote" (Miguel de Cervantes; "The Necklace" (Guy de…

A multi-user network that supports both classical and quantum communication is proposed. By relying on optical code-division multiple access techniques, this system offers simultaneous key exchange between multiple pairs of network users. A lower bound on the secure key generation rate will be derived for decoy-state quantum key distribution protocols.

This book contains over 90 classic poems for children. The collection of poems includes nonsense verse by Lear and Carroll, story poems by Tennyson and Keats, and humorous poems by Belloc and Betjeman. The collection also includes poems by modern poets, such as Charles Causley, Ted Hughes, John Agard, Roger McGough, and Stevie Smith. The…

Addictive disorders are very common and have devastating individual and social consequences. Currently available treatment is moderately effective at best. After many years of neglect, there is renewed interest in potential clinical uses for classic hallucinogens in the treatment of addictions and other behavioral health conditions. In this paper we provide a comprehensive review of both historical and recent clinical research on the use of classic hallucinogens in the treatment of addiction, selectively review other relevant research concerning hallucinogens, and suggest directions for future research. Clinical trial data are very limited except for the use of LSD in the treatment of alcoholism, where a meta-analysis of controlled trials has demonstrated a consistent and clinically significant beneficial effect of high-dose LSD. Recent pilot studies of psilocybin-assisted treatment of nicotine and alcohol dependence had strikingly positive outcomes, but controlled trials will be necessary to evaluate the efficacy of these treatments. Although plausible biological mechanisms have been proposed, currently the strongest evidence is for the role of mystical or other meaningful experiences as mediators of therapeutic effects. Classic hallucinogens have an excellent record of safety in the context of clinical research. Given our limited understanding of the clinically relevant effects of classic hallucinogens, there is a wealth of opportunities for research that could contribute important new knowledge and potentially lead to valuable new treatments for addiction. PMID:25784600

The participation of the hippocampus in classical conditioning is described in terms of a multilayer network portraying stimulus configuration. A model of hippocampal function is presented, and computer simulations are used to study neural activity in the various brain areas mapped according to the model. (SLD)

The quantum-classical transition for wave packet interference is investigated using a hydrodynamic description. A nonlinear quantum-classical transition equation is obtained by introducing a degree of quantumness ranging from zero to one into the classical time-dependent Schrödinger equation. This equation provides a continuous description for the transition process of physical systems from purely quantum to purely classical regimes. In this study, the transition trajectory formalism is developed to provide a hydrodynamic description for the quantum-classical transition. The flow momentum of transition trajectories is defined by the gradient of the action function in the transition wave function and these trajectories follow the main features of the evolving probability density. Then, the transition trajectory formalism is employed to analyze the quantum-classical transition of wave packet interference. For the collision-like wave packet interference where the propagation velocity is faster than the spreading speed of the wave packet, the interference process remains collision-like for all the degree of quantumness. However, the interference features demonstrated by transition trajectories gradually disappear when the degree of quantumness approaches zero. For the diffraction-like wave packet interference, the interference process changes continuously from a diffraction-like to collision-like case when the degree of quantumness gradually decreases. This study provides an insightful trajectory interpretation for the quantum-classical transition of wave packet interference.

Close to a spacelike singularity, pure gravity and supergravity in 4 to 11 spacetime dimensions admit a cosmological billiard description based on hyperbolic Kac-Moody groups. We investigate the quantum cosmological billiards of relativistic wavepackets towards the singularity, employing flat and hyperbolic space descriptions for the quantum billiards. We find that the strongly chaotic classical billiard motion of four-dimensional pure gravity corresponds to a spreading wavepacket subject to successive redshifts and tending to zero as the singularity is approached. We discuss the possible implications of these results in the context of singularity resolution and compare them with those of known semiclassical approaches. As an aside, we obtain exact solutions for the one-dimensional relativistic quantum billiards with moving walls.

A metric-affine approach is employed to study higher-dimensional modified gravity theories involving different powers and contractions of the Ricci tensor. It is shown that the field equations are always second-order, as opposed to the standard metric approach, where this is only achieved for Lagrangians of the Lovelock type. We point out that this property might have relevant implications for the AdS/CFT correspondence in black hole scenarios. We illustrate these aspects by considering the case of Born-Infeld gravity in d dimensions, where we work out exact solutions for electrovacuum configurations. Our results put forward that black hole singularities in arbitrary dimensions can be cured in a purely classical geometric scenario governed by second-order field equations.

Simulation of flux-peaking effect of the 255 MeV positrons channeled in (220) Si crystals is performed in the frame of classical and quantum mechanics. Comparison of the results obtained using both approaches shows relatively good agreement.

Quantum particles can be obtained from a classical probability distribution in phase space by a suitable coarse graining, whereby simultaneous classical information about position and momentum can be lost. For a suitable time evolution of the classical probabilities and choice of observables all features of a quantum particle in a potential follow from classical statistics. This includes interference, tunneling and the uncertainty relation.

The concept of an injective affine embedding of the quantum states into a set of classical states, i.e., into the set of the probability measures on some measurable space, as well as its relation to statistically complete observables is revisited, and its limitation in view of a classical reformulation of the statistical scheme of quantum mechanics is discussed. In particular, on the basis of a theorem concerning a non-denseness property of a set of coexistent effects, it is shown that an injective classical embedding of the quantum states cannot be supplemented by an at least approximate classical description of the quantum mechanical effects. As an alternative approach, the concept of quasi-probability representations of quantum mechanics is considered.

This paper points out design confusion existing in all the arbitrated quantum signatures (AQS) that require public discussions over authenticated classical channels. Instead, an AQS scheme of classical messages without using authenticated classical channels is proposed here. A cryptographic hash function is used in combine with quantum mechanics to check the existence of an eavesdropping or to verify a signature. In addition, by using only single photons, this scheme provides higher efficiency both in quantum transmissions and generations. The proposed AQS scheme is shown to be immune to several well-known attacks, i.e., the Trojan-horse attacks and the existential forgery attack.

The UAV technology seems to be highly future-oriented due to its low costs as compared to traditional aerial images taken from classical photogrammetry aircrafts. The AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow - Department of Geoinformation, Photogrammetry and Environmental Remote Sensing focuses mainly on geometry and radiometry of recorded images. Various scientific research centres all over the world have been conducting the relevant research for years. The paper presents selected aspects of processing digital images made with the UAV technology. It provides on a practical example a comparison between a digital image taken from an airborne (classical) height, and the one made from an UAV level. In his research the author of the paper is trying to find an answer to the question: to what extent does the UAV technology diverge today from classical photogrammetry, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of both methods? The flight plan was made over the Tokarnia Village Museum (more than 0.5 km2) for two separate flights: the first was made by an UAV - System FT-03A built by FlyTech Solution Ltd. The second was made with the use of a classical photogrammetric Cesna aircraft furnished with an airborne photogrammetric camera (Ultra Cam Eagle). Both sets of photographs were taken with pixel size of about 3 cm, in order to have reliable data allowing for both systems to be compared. The project has made aerotriangulation independently for the two flights. The DTM was generated automatically, and the last step was the generation of an orthophoto. The geometry of images was checked under the process of aerotriangulation. To compare the accuracy of these two flights, control and check points were used. RMSE were calculated. The radiometry was checked by a visual method and using the author's own algorithm for feature extraction (to define edges with subpixel accuracy). After initial pre-processing of data, the images were put together, and shown side by side

Here, we present a discussion of kinetic theory treatments of linear electrical and thermal transport in hydrogen plasmas, for a regime of interest to inertial confinement fusion applications. In order to assess the accuracy of one of the more involved of these approaches, classical Lenard-Balescu theory, we perform classical molecular dynamics simulations of hydrogen plasmas using 2-body quantum statistical potentials and compute both electrical and thermal conductivity from out particle trajectories using the Kubo approach. Our classical Lenard-Balescu results employing the identical statistical potentials agree well with the simulations.

Here, we present a discussion of kinetic theory treatments of linear electrical and thermal transport in hydrogen plasmas, for a regime of interest to inertial confinement fusion applications. In order to assess the accuracy of one of the more involved of these approaches, classical Lenard-Balescu theory, we perform classical molecular dynamics simulations of hydrogen plasmas using 2-body quantum statistical potentials and compute both electrical and thermal conductivity from out particle trajectories using the Kubo approach. Our classical Lenard-Balescu results employing the identical statistical potentials agree well with the simulations.

It has long been known that structural chemistry shows an intriguing correspondence with Classical Invariant Theory (CIT). Under this view, an algebraic binary form of the degree n corresponds to a chemical atom with valence n and each physical molecule or ion has an invariant-theoretic counterpart. This theory was developed using the Aronhold symbolical approach and the symbolical processes of convolution/transvection in CIT was characterized as a potential “accurate morphological method”. However, CIT has not been applied to the formal morphology of living organisms. Based on the morphological interpretation of binary form, as well as the process of convolution/transvection, the First and Second Fundamental Theorems of CIT and the Nullforms of CIT, we show how CIT can be applied to the structure of plants, especially when conceptualized as a series of plant metamers (phytomers). We also show that the weight of the covariant/invariant that describes a morphological structure is a criterion of simplicity and, therefore, we argue that this allows us to formulate a parsimonious method of formal morphology. We demonstrate that the “theory of axilar bud” is the simplest treatment of the grass seedling/embryo. Our interpretations also represent Troll's bauplan of the angiosperms, the principle of variable proportions, morphological misfits, the basic types of stem segmentation, and Goethe's principle of metamorphosis in terms of CIT. Binary forms of different degrees might describe any repeated module of plant organisms. As bacteria, invertebrates, and higher vertebrates are all generally shared a metameric morphology, wider implications of the proposed symmetry between CIT and formal morphology of plants are apparent. PMID:19759908

The aim of this review (oriented to biologists looking for applications of QM) is to provide a detailed comparative analysis of classical (Kolmogorovian) and quantum (Dirac-von Neumann) models. We will stress differences in the definition of conditional probability and as a consequence in the structures of matrices of transition probabilities, especially the condition of double stochasticity which arises naturally in QM. One of the most fundamental differences between two models is deformation of the classical formula of total probability (FTP) which plays an important role in statistics and decision making. An additional term appears in the QM-version of FTP - so called interference term. Finally, we discuss Bell's inequality and show that the common viewpoint that its violation induces either nonlocality or "death of realism" has not been completely justified. For us it is merely a sign of non-Kolmogorovianity of probabilistic data collected in a few experiments with incompatible setups of measurement devices.

A formalism describing the dynamics of classical and quantum systems from a group theoretical point of view is presented. We apply it to the simple example of the classical free particle. The Galileo group [ital G] is the symmetry group of the free equations of motion. Consideration of the free particle Lagrangian semi-invariance under [ital G] leads to a larger symmetry group, which is a central extension of the Galileo group by the real numbers. We study the dynamics associated with this group, and characterize quantities like Noether invariants and evolution equations in terms of group geometric objects. An extension of the Galileo group by [ital U](1) leads to quantum mechanics.

Classical Be stars are B type stars that show hydrogen emission in their spectra, and exhibit variability across the electromagnetic spectrum, including visible and infrared wavelengths. While spectroscopic variability in the optical range has been studied previously, the near infrared region has not been investigated as thoroughly. We present multiple epochs of near infrared spectroscopy for a sample of eight Classical Be stars. Our observations were taken using the FSPEC instrument on the 90-inch Bok reflector telescope at Kitt Peak during the months of May and June of 2010 and 2011. We targeted the Brackett Gamma emission line of hydrogen with a resolution of ≈3500. Using Python we developed tools to analyze the reduced and calibrated spectra, as well as compute equivalent widths. Time-series spectra indicate that a majority of the systems exhibit spectroscopic variability. By monitoring the strengths of the emission feature over time we aim to constrain the physical properties of these systems.

We theoretically and experimentally explore the implications of entanglement in statistically classical optical fields. The description of these fields in terms of polarization and amplitude degrees of freedom can take a non-separable form which employs a mathematical description of entanglement often associated with quantum phenomena. By subjecting these optical fields to a Bell analysis, we examine the role of entanglement in marking the quantum-classical boundary. We report a value of the Bell parameter greater than calB = 2 . 54 , many standard deviations outside the limit calB = 2 established by the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality. This suggests that Bell violation has less to do with quantum theory than previously thought, but everything to do with entanglement. University of Rochester Research Award, NSF PHY-1203931, NSF PHY-1505189, and NSF/INSPIRE PHY-1539859.

The control of quantum systems requires the ability to change and read-out the phase of a system. The noncommutativity of canonical conjugate operators can induce phases on quantum systems, which can be employed for implementing phase gates and for precision measurements. Here we study the phase acquired by a radiation field after its radiation pressure interaction with a mechanical oscillator, and compare the classical and quantum contributions. The classical description can reproduce the nonlinearity induced by the mechanical oscillator and the loss of correlations between mechanics and optical field at certain interaction times. Such features alone are therefore insufficient for probing the quantum nature of the interaction. Our results thus isolate genuine quantum contributions of the optomechanical interaction that could be probed in current experiments.

We report on an experimental test of classical and quantum dimension. We have used a dimension witness that can distinguish between quantum and classical systems of dimensions two, three, and four and performed the experiment for all five cases. The witness we have chosen is a base of semi-device-independent cryptographic and randomness expansion protocols. Therefore, the part of the experiment in which qubits were used is a realization of these protocols. In our work we also present an analytic method for finding the maximum quantum value of the witness along with corresponding measurements and preparations. This method is quite general and can be applied to any linear dimension witness. PMID:24765923

We study the phases and dynamics of a gas of monodisperse particles interacting via soft-core potentials in two spatial dimensions, which is of interest for soft-matter colloidal systems and quantum atomic gases. Using exact theoretical methods, we demonstrate that the equilibrium low-temperature classical phase simultaneously breaks continuous translational symmetry and dynamic space-time homogeneity, whose absence is usually associated with out-of-equilibrium glassy phenomena. This results in an exotic self-assembled cluster crystal with coexisting liquidlike long-time dynamical properties, which corresponds to a classical analog of supersolid behavior. We demonstrate that the effects of quantum fluctuations and bosonic statistics on cluster-glassy crystals are separate and competing: Zero-point motion tends to destabilize crystalline order, which can be restored by bosonic statistics. PMID:26651695

Measurements of rates of period change of Classical Cepheids probe stellar physics and evolution. Additionally, better understanding of Cepheid structure and evolution provides greater insight into their use as standard candles and tools for measuring the Hubble constant. Our recent study of the period change of the nearest Cepheid, Polaris, suggested that it is undergoing enhanced mass loss when compared to canonical stellar evolution model predictions. In this work, we expand the analysis to rates of period change measured for about 200 Galactic Cepheids and compare them to population synthesis models of Cepheids including convective core overshooting and enhanced mass loss. Rates of period change predicted from stellar evolution models without mass loss do not agree with observed rates, whereas including enhanced mass loss yields predicted rates in better agreement with observations. This is the first evidence that enhanced mass loss as suggested previously for Polaris and {delta} Cephei must be a ubiquitous property of Classical Cepheids.

Understanding the crossover from quantum to classical transport has become of fundamental importance not only for technological applications due to the creation of sub-10-nm transistors - an important building block of our modern life - but also for elucidating the role played by quantum mechanics in the evolutionary fitness of biological complexes. This article provides a basic introduction into the nature of charge and energy transport in the quantum and classical regimes. It discusses the characteristic transport properties in both limits and demonstrates how they can be connected through the loss of quantum mechanical coherence. The salient features of the crossover physics are identified, and their importance in opening new transport regimes and in understanding efficient and robust energy transport in biological complexes are demonstrated.

The axion is a motivated dark matter candidate, so it would be interesting to find features in Large Scale Structures specific to axion dark matter. Such features were proposed for a Bose Einstein condensate of axions, leading to confusion in the literature (to which I contributed) about whether axions condense due to their gravitational interactions. This note argues that the Bose Einstein condensation of axions is a red herring: the axion dark matter produced by the misalignment mechanism is already a classical field, which has the distinctive features attributed to the axion condensate (BE condensates are described as classical fields). This note also estimates that the rate at which axion particles condense to the field, or the field evaporates to particles, is negligible.

V723 Cas had a light curve similar to that of HR Del before maximum, with a very slow pre-maximum rise, explained according to [2] by the presence of an optically thin wind before maximum unlike the optically thick wind generally seen for classical novae after maximum. Examination of the Fe II emission lines by the SAC method, is compatible with this also having been the case for V723 Cas.

A self-consistent formulation of physics at the classical level embodying Dirac's large numbers hypothesis (LNH) is developed based on units covariance. A scalar 'field' phi(x) is introduced and some fundamental results are derived from the resultant equations. Some unusual properties of phi are noted such as the fact that phi cannot be the correspondence limit of a normal quantum scalar field.

The total many-body correlations present in finite temperature classical spin systems are studied using the concept of mutual information. As opposed to zero-temperature quantum phase transitions, the total correlations are not maximal at the phase transition, but reach a maximum in the high-temperature paramagnetic phase. The Shannon mutual information and the Renyi mutual information in both Ising and Potts models in two dimensions are calculated numerically by combining matrix product state algorithms and Monte Carlo sampling techniques.

A uniformly moving inclusion which locally suppresses the fluctuations of a classical thermally excited field is shown to experience a drag force that depends on the dynamics of the field. It is shown that in a number of cases the linear friction coefficient is dominated by short distance fluctuations and takes a very simple form. Examples where this drag can occur are for stiff objects, such as proteins, nonspecifically bound to more flexible ones such as polymers and membranes.

This paper presents an analysis of the time concept in classical mechanics from the perspective of the invariants of a motion. The analysis shows that there is a conceptual gap concerning time in the Dirac-Heisenberg-von Neumann formalism and that Bohr's complementarity principle does not fill the gap. In the Dirac-Heisenberg-von Neumann formalism, a particle's properties are represented by Heisenberg matrices. This axiom is the source of the time problem in quantum mechanics.

A Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity based on certain spinorial variables is introduced. These variables simplify the constraints of general relativity considerably and enable one to imbed the constraint surface in the phase space of Einstein's theory into that of Yang-Mills theory. The imbedding suggests new ways of attacking a number of problems in both classical and quantum gravity. Some illustrative applications are discussed.

We present two schemes of Lau effect for an object, an electromagnetically induced grating generated based on the electromagnetically induced effect. The Lau interference pattern is detected either directly in the way of the traditional Lau effect measurement with a classical thermal light being the imaging light, or indirectly and nonlocally in the way of two-photon coincidence measurement with a pair of entangled photons being the imaging light.

A nonassociative classical field theory is constructed. Octonion algebra is studied. The octonion is represented as the sum of a quaternion and an associator. The octonion algebra is expanded and Lorentz group generators are specified in terms of octonion bases in one of the subalgebras. Lorentz vectors and spinors are constructed in the nonassociative algebra. The representation of the Lorentz group in terms of spin and the associator is obtained.

We investigate the long-term evolution of the inclinations of the known classical and resonant Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs). This is partially motivated by the observed bimodal inclination distribution and by the putative physical differences between the low- and high-inclination populations. We find that some classical KBOs undergo large changes in inclination over gigayear timescales, which means that a current member of the low-inclination population may have been in the high-inclination population in the past, and vice versa. The dynamical mechanisms responsible for the time variability of inclinations are predominantly distant encounters with Neptune and chaotic diffusion near the boundaries of mean motion resonances. We reassess the correlations between inclination and physical properties including inclination time variability. We find that the size-inclination and color-inclination correlations are less statistically significant than previously reported (mostly due to the increased size of the data set since previous works with some contribution from inclination variability). The time variability of inclinations does not change the previous finding that binary classical KBOs have lower inclinations than non-binary objects. Our study of resonant objects in the classical Kuiper Belt region includes objects in the 3:2, 7:4, 2:1, and eight higher-order mean motion resonances. We find that these objects (some of which were previously classified as non-resonant) undergo larger changes in inclination compared to the non-resonant population, indicating that their current inclinations are not generally representative of their original inclinations. They are also less stable on gigayear timescales.

Often quantum logics are algebraically modelled by orthomodular posets. The physical system described by such a quantum logic is classical if and only if the corresponding orthomodular poset is a Boolean algebra. We provide an easy testing procedure for this case. Moreover, we characterize orthomodular posets which are lattices and consider orthomodular posets which admit a full set of states and hence represent so-called spaces of numerical events. This way further test procedures are obtained.

It is generally believed that one cannot obtain a large universe from quantum cosmological models without an inflationary phase in the classical expanding era because the typical size of the universe after leaving the quantum regime should be around the Planck length, and the standard decelerated classical expansion after that is not sufficient to enlarge the universe in the time available. For instance, in many quantum minisuperspace bouncing models studied in the literature, solutions where the universe leaves the quantum regime in the expanding phase with appropriate size have negligible probability amplitude with respect to solutions leaving this regime around the Planck length. In this paper, I present a general class of moving Gaussian solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation where the velocity of the wave in minisuperspace along the scale factor axis, which is the new large parameter introduced in order to circumvent the above-mentioned problem, induces a large acceleration around the quantum bounce, forcing the universe to leave the quantum regime sufficiently big to increase afterwards to the present size, without needing any classical inflationary phase in between, and with reasonable relative probability amplitudes with respect to models leaving the quantum regime around the Planck scale. Furthermore, linear perturbations around this background model are free of any trans-Planckian problem.

Astrology in the ancient and classical worlds can be partly defined by its role, and partly by the way in which scholars spoke about it. The problem is complicated by the fact that the word is Greek - it has no Babylonian or Egyptian cognates - and even in Greece it was interchangeable with its cousin, 'astronomy'. Yet if we are to understand the role of the sky, stars and planets in culture, debates about the nature of ancient astrology, by both classical and modern scholars, must be taken into account. This talk will consider modern scholars' typologies of ancient astrology, together with ancient debates from Cicero in the 1st century BC, to Plotinus (204/5-270 AD) and Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 4 April 636). It will consider the implications for our understanding of astronomy's role in culture, and conclude that in the classical period astrology may be best understood through its diversity and allegiance to competing philosophies, and that its functions were therefore similarly varied.

Classicalizing theories are characterized by a rapid growth of the scattering cross section. This growth converts these sort of theories in interesting probes for ultra-high energy experiments even at relatively low luminosity, such as cosmic rays or Plasma Wakefield accelerators. The microscopic reason behind this growth is the production of N-particle states, classicalons, that represent self-sustained lumps of soft Bosons. For spin-2 theories this is the quantum portrait of what in the classical limit are known as black holes. We emphasize the importance of this quantum picture which liberates us from the artifacts of the classical geometric limit and allows to scan a much wider landscape of experimentally-interesting quantum theories. We identify a phenomenologically-viable class of spin-2 theories for which the growth of classicalon production cross section can be as efficient as to compete with QCD cross section already at 100TeV energy, signaling production of quantum black holes with graviton occupation number N ∼ 10{sup 4}.

Local pure states are an important resource for quantum computing. The problem of distilling local pure states from mixed ones can be cast in an information theoretic paradigm. The bipartite version of this problem where local purity must be distilled from an arbitrary quantum state shared between two parties, Alice and Bob, is closely related to the problem of separating quantum and classical correlations in the state and in particular, to a measure of classical correlations called the one-way distillable common randomness. In Phys. Rev. A 71, 062303 (2005), the optimal rate of local purity distillation is derived when many copies of a bipartite quantum state are shared between Alice and Bob, and the parties are allowed unlimited use of a unidirectional dephasing channel. In the present paper, we extend this result to the setting in which the use of the channel is bounded. We demonstrate that in the case of a classical-quantum system, the expression for the local purity distilled is efficiently computable and provide examples with their tradeoff curves.

Quantum mechanics provide a detailed description of the physical and chemical behavior of molecules. However, with increasing size of the system the complexity rises exponentially, which is prohibitive for efficient dynamical simulation. In contrast, classical molecular dynamics procure a coarser description by using less degrees of freedom. Thus, it seems natural to seek for an adequate trade-off between accurateness and computational feasibility in the simulation of molecules. Here, we propose a novel method, which combines classical molecular simulations with quantum mechanics for molecular systems. For this we decompose the state space of the respective molecule into subsets, by employing a meshfree partition of unity. We show, that this partition allows us to localize an empirical force field and to run locally constrained classical trajectories. Within each subset, we compute the energy on the quantum level for a fixed number of spatial states (ab initio points). With these energy values from the ab initio points we have a local scattered data problem, which can be solved by the moving least squares method.

We study a combined parity (P) and time reversal (T) invariant non-Hermitian quasi-exactly solvable (QES) potential, which exhibits PT phase transition, in the complex plane classically to demonstrate different quantum effects. The particle with real energy makes closed orbits around one of the periodic wells of the complex potential depending on the initial condition. However interestingly the particle escapes to an open orbits even with real energy if it is placed beyond a certain distance from the center of the well. On the other hand when the particle energy is complex the trajectory is open and the particle tunnels back and forth between two wells which are separated by a classically forbidden path. The tunneling time is calculated for different pair of wells and is shown to vary inversely with the imaginary component of energy. Our study reveals that spontaneous PT symmetry breaking does not affect the qualitative features of the particle trajectories in the analogous complex classical model. Support from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India under SERC Project Sanction Grant No. SR/S2/HEP-0009/2012

Mesoscopic physics is a sub-discipline of condensed-matter physics that focuses on the properties of solids in a size range intermediate between bulk matter and individual atoms. In particular, it is characteristic of a domain where a certain number of interacting objects can easily be tuned between classical and quantum regimes, thus enabling studies at the border of the two. In magnetism, such a tuning was first realized with large-spin magnetic molecules called single-molecule magnets (SMMs) with archetype Mn(12)-ac. In general, the mesoscopic scale can be relatively large (e.g. micrometre-sized superconducting circuits), but, in magnetism, it is much smaller and can reach the atomic scale with rare earth (RE) ions. In all cases, it is shown how quantum relaxation can drastically reduce classical irreversibility. Taking the example of mesoscopic spin systems, the origin of irreversibility is discussed on the basis of the Landau-Zener model. A classical counterpart of this model is described enabling, in particular, intuitive understanding of most aspects of quantum spin dynamics. The spin dynamics of mesoscopic spin systems (SMM or RE systems) becomes coherent if they are well isolated. The study of the damping of their Rabi oscillations gives access to most relevant decoherence mechanisms by different environmental baths, including the electromagnetic bath of microwave excitation. This type of decoherence, clearly seen with spin systems, is easily recovered in quantum simulations. It is also observed with other types of qubits such as a single spin in a quantum dot or a superconducting loop, despite the presence of other competitive decoherence mechanisms. As in the molecular magnet V(15), the leading decoherence terms of superconducting qubits seem to be associated with a non-Markovian channel in which short-living entanglements with distributions of two-level systems (nuclear spins, impurity spins and/or charges) leading to 1/f noise induce τ(1)-like

The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements. Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres. PMID:24895472

The main result in this paper is a new inequality bearing on solutions of the N-body linear Schrödinger equation and of the mean field Hartree equation. This inequality implies that the mean field limit of the quantum mechanics of N identical particles is uniform in the classical limit and provides a quantitative estimate of the quality of the approximation. This result applies to the case of C 1,1 interaction potentials. The quantity measuring the approximation of the N-body quantum dynamics by its mean field limit is analogous to the Monge-Kantorovich (or Wasserstein) distance with exponent 2. The inequality satisfied by this quantity is reminiscent of the work of Dobrushin on the mean field limit in classical mechanics [Func. Anal. Appl. 13, 115-123, (1979)]. Our approach to this problem is based on a direct analysis of the N-particle Liouville equation, and avoids using techniques based on the BBGKY hierarchy or on second quantization.

The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements. Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres. PMID:24895472

Much experimental effort is invested these days in fabricating nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) that are sufficiently small, cold and clean, so as to approach quantum mechanical behavior as their typical quantum energy scale \\hbar\\Omega becomes comparable with that of the ambient thermal energy kBT. Such systems will hopefully enable one to observe the quantum behavior of human-made objects, and test some of the basic principles of quantum mechanics. Here, we expand and elaborate on our recent suggestion (Katz et al 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 040404) to exploit the nonlinear nature of a nanoresonator in order to observe its transition into the quantum regime. We study this transition for an isolated resonator, as well as one that is coupled to a heat bath at either zero or finite temperature. We argue that by exploiting nonlinearities, quantum dynamics can be probed using technology that is almost within reach. Numerical solutions of the equations of motion display the first quantum corrections to classical dynamics that appear as the classical-to-quantum transition occurs. This provides practical signatures to look for in future experiments with NEMS resonators.

In this work we analyze the transient dynamics of three different classical and quantum systems. First, we consider a classical Brownian particle moving in an asymmetric bistable potential, subject to a multiplicative and additive noise source. We investigate the role of these two noise sources on the life time of the metastable state. A nonmonotonic behavior of the lifetime as a function of both additive and multiplicative noise intensities is found, revealing the phenomenon of noise enhanced stability. Afterward, by using a Lotka-Volterra model, the dynamics of two competing species in the presence of Lévy noise sources is analyzed. Quasiperiodic oscillations and stochastic resonance phenomenon in the dynamics of the competing species are found. Finally the dynamics of a quantum particle subject to an asymmetric bistable potential and interacting with a thermal reservoir is investigated. We use the Caldeira-Leggett model and the approach of the Feynman-Vernon functional in discrete variable representation. We obtain the time evolution of the population distributions in energy eigenstates of the particle, for different values of the coupling strength with the thermal bath.

In an old paper of our group in Milano a formalism was introduced for the continuous monitoring of a system during a certain interval of time in the framework of a somewhat generalized approach to quantum mechanics (QM). The outcome was a distribution of probability on the space of all the possible continuous histories of a set of quantities to be considered as a kind of coarse grained approximation to some ordinary quantum observables commuting or not. In fact the main aim was the introduction of a classical level in the context of QM, treating formally a set of basic quantities, to be considered as beables in the sense of Bell, as continuously taken under observation. However the effect of such assumption was a permanent modification of the Liouville-von Neumann equation for the statistical operator by the introduction of a dissipative term which is in conflict with basic conservation rules in all reasonable models we had considered. Difficulties were even encountered for a relativistic extension of the formalism. In this paper I propose a modified version of the original formalism which seems to overcome both difficulties. First I study the simple models of an harmonic oscillator and a free scalar field in which a coarse grain position and a coarse grained field respectively are treated as beables. Then I consider the more realistic case of spinor electrodynamics in which only certain coarse grained electric and magnetic fields are introduced as classical variables and no matter related quantities.

We approach the topic of Classical group nilpotent orbits from the perspective of the moduli spaces of quivers, described in terms of Hilbert series and generating functions. We review the established Higgs and Coulomb branch quiver theory constructions for A series nilpotent orbits. We present systematic constructions for BCD series nilpotent orbits on the Higgs branches of quiver theories defined by canonical partitions; this paper collects earlier work into a systematic framework, filling in gaps and providing a complete treatment. We find new Coulomb branch constructions for above minimal nilpotent orbits, including some based upon twisted affine Dynkin diagrams. We also discuss aspects of 3 d mirror symmetry between these Higgs and Coulomb branch constructions and explore dualities and other relationships, such as HyperKähler quotients, between quivers. We analyse all Classical group nilpotent orbit moduli spaces up to rank 4 by giving their unrefined Hilbert series and the Highest Weight Generating functions for their decompositions into characters of irreducible representations and/or Hall Littlewood polynomials.

A classical limit of quantum dynamics can be defined by compensation of the quantum potential in the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The quantum potential is a non-local quantity, defined in the trajectory-based form of the Schrödinger equation, due to Madelung, de Broglie, and Bohm, which formally generates the quantum-mechanical features in dynamics. Selective inclusion of the quantum potential for the degrees of freedom deemed "quantum," defines a hybrid quantum/classical dynamics, appropriate for molecular systems comprised of light and heavy nuclei. The wavefunction is associated with all of the nuclei, and the Ehrenfest, or mean-field, averaging of the force acting on the classical degrees of freedom, typical of the mixed quantum/classical methods, is avoided. The hybrid approach is used to examine evolution of light/heavy systems in the harmonic and double-well potentials, using conventional grid-based and approximate quantum-trajectory time propagation. The approximate quantum force is defined on spatial domains, which removes unphysical coupling of the wavefunction fragments corresponding to distinct classical channels or configurations. The quantum potential, associated with the quantum particle, generates forces acting on both quantum and classical particles to describe the backreaction. PMID:25527919

A detailed understanding of the adsorption of small molecules or macromolecules to a materials surface is of importance, for example, in the context of material and biomaterial research. Classical atomistic simulations in principle provide microscopic insight in the complex entropic and enthalpic interplay at the interface. However, an application of classical atomistic simulation techniques to such interface systems is a nontrivial problem, mostly because commonly used force fields cannot be straightforwardly applied, as they are usually developed to reproduce bulk properties of either solids or liquids but not the interfacial region between two phases. Therefore, a dual-scale modeling approach has often been the method of choice in the past, in which the classical force field is parameterized such that quantum chemical information on near-surface conformations and adsorption energies is reproduced by the classical force field. We will discuss in this review the current state-of-the-art of quantum-classical modeling of molecule-surface interactions and outline the major challenges in this field. In this context, we will, among other things, lay emphasis on discussing ways to obtain representable force fields and propose systematic and system-independent strategies to optimize the quantum-classical fitting procedure. PMID:23420673

A classical limit of quantum dynamics can be defined by compensation of the quantum potential in the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The quantum potential is a non-local quantity, defined in the trajectory-based form of the Schrödinger equation, due to Madelung, de Broglie, and Bohm, which formally generates the quantum-mechanical features in dynamics. Selective inclusion of the quantum potential for the degrees of freedom deemed “quantum,” defines a hybrid quantum/classical dynamics, appropriate for molecular systems comprised of light and heavy nuclei. The wavefunction is associated with all of the nuclei, and the Ehrenfest, or mean-field, averaging of the force acting on the classical degrees of freedom, typical of the mixed quantum/classical methods, is avoided. The hybrid approach is used to examine evolution of light/heavy systems in the harmonic and double-well potentials, using conventional grid-based and approximate quantum-trajectory time propagation. The approximate quantum force is defined on spatial domains, which removes unphysical coupling of the wavefunction fragments corresponding to distinct classical channels or configurations. The quantum potential, associated with the quantum particle, generates forces acting on both quantum and classical particles to describe the backreaction.

A procedure modelling ideal classical and quantum gases is discussed. The proposed approach is mainly based on the idea that modelling and algorithm analysis can provide a deeper understanding of particularly complex physical systems. Appropriate representations and physical models able to mimic possible pseudo-mechanisms of functioning and having…

A directly applicable latent variable modeling procedure for classical item analysis is outlined. The method allows one to point and interval estimate item difficulty, item correlations, and item-total correlations for composites consisting of categorical items. The approach is readily employed in empirical research and as a by-product permits…

Few laboratory procedures describe the use of circular dichroism (CD) at the undergraduate level. To increase the number of laboratory exercises using CD, a thermal denaturation study of myoglobin using CD is described to assess protein stability. Values obtained from a more classic linear data analysis approach are consistent with data analyzed…

Pupillary light reflex (PLR) is an important clinical tool to assess the integrity of visual pathways. The available evidence suggests that melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells (mRGCs) mediate PLR—driven by the classical photoreceptors (rods and cones) at low irradiances and by melanopsin activation at high irradiances. However, genetic or pharmacological elimination of melanopsin does not completely abolish PLR at high irradiances, raising the possibility that classical photoreceptors may have a role even at high irradiances. Using an inducible mouse model of photoreceptor degeneration, we asked whether classical photoreceptors are responsible for PLR at all irradiances, and found that the PLR was severely attenuated at all irradiances. Using multiple approaches, we show that the residual PLR at high irradiances in this mouse was primarily from the remnant rods and cones, with a minor contribution from melanopsin activation. In contrast, in rd1 mouse where classical photoreceptor degeneration occurs during development, the PLR was absent at low irradiances but intact at high irradiances, as reported previously. Since mRGCs receive inputs from classical photoreceptors, we also asked whether developmental loss of classical photoreceptors as in rd1 mouse leads to compensatory takeover of the high-irradiance PLR by mRGCs. Specifically, we looked at a distinct subpopulation of mRGCs that express Brn3b transcription factor, which has been shown to mediate PLR. We found that rd1 mouse had a significantly higher proportion of Brn3b-expressing M1 type of mRGCs than in the inducible model. Interestingly, inducing classical photoreceptor degeneration during development also resulted in a higher proportion of Brn3b-expressing M1 cells and partially rescued PLR at high irradiances. These results suggest that classical photoreceptors are primarily responsible for PLR at all irradiances, while melanopsin activation makes a minor contribution at very high irradiances

The creative output of composers, writers, and artists is often influenced by their surroundings. To give a literary example, it has been claimed recently that some of the characters in Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol were based on real-life people who lived near Charles Dickens in London. Of course, an important part of what we see and hear is not only the people with whom we interact, but also our geophysical surroundings. Of all the geophysical phenomena to influence us, the weather is arguably the most significant, because we are exposed to it directly and daily. The weather was a great source of inspiration for Monet, Constable, and Turner, who are known for their scientifically accurate paintings of the skies. But to what extent does weather inspire composers? The authors of this presentation, who are atmospheric scientists by day but amateur classical musicians by night, have been contemplating this question. We have built a systematic musical database, which has allowed us to catalogue and analyze the frequencies with which weather is depicted in a sample of classical orchestral music. The depictions vary from explicit mimicry using traditional and specialized orchestral instruments, through to subtle suggestions. We have found that composers are generally influenced by their own environment in the type of weather they choose to represent. As befits the national stereotype, British composers seem disproportionately keen to depict the UK's variable weather patterns and stormy coastline. Reference: Aplin KL and Williams PD (2011) Meteorological phenomena in Western classical orchestral music. Weather, 66(11), pp 300-306. doi:10.1002/wea.765

Classical novae are caused by mass transfer episodes from a main-sequence star onto a white dwarf via Roche lobe overflow. This material possesses angular momentum and forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf. Ultimately, a fraction of this material spirals in and piles up on the white dwarf surface under electron-degenerate conditions. The subsequently occurring thermonuclear runaway reaches hundreds of megakelvin and explosively ejects matter into the interstellar medium. The exact peak temperature strongly depends on the underlying white dwarf mass, the accreted mass and metallicity, and the initial white dwarf luminosity. Observations of elemental abundance enrichments in these classical nova events imply that the ejected matter consists not only of processed solar material from the main-sequence partner but also of material from the outer layers of the underlying white dwarf. This indicates that white dwarf and accreted matter mix prior to the thermonuclear runaway. The processes by which this mixing occurs require further investigation to be understood. In this work, we analyze elemental abundances ejected from hydrodynamic nova models in search of elemental abundance ratios that are useful indicators of the total amount of mixing. We identify the abundance ratios ΣCNO/H, Ne/H, Mg/H, Al/H, and Si/H as useful mixing meters in ONe novae. The impact of thermonuclear reaction rate uncertainties on the mixing meters is investigated using Monte Carlo post-processing network calculations with temperature-density evolutions of all mass zones computed by the hydrodynamic models. We find that the current uncertainties in the {sup 30}P(p, γ){sup 31}S rate influence the Si/H abundance ratio, but overall the mixing meters found here are robust against nuclear physics uncertainties. A comparison of our results with observations of ONe novae provides strong constraints for classical nova models.

Mycosis fungoides is a peripheral non-Hodgkin's T-cell neoplastic process, representing the most common type of primary cutaneous malignant lymphoma. Neoplastic lesions classically show skin predilection and characteristic clinical and histologic features in patch, plaque, and tumor stages. In addition, several clinicopathologic variants of mycosis fungoides have been delineated, including poikiloderma atrophicans vasculare (parapsoriasis variegata), Sézary syndrome, granulomatous mycosis fungoides, hypopigmented mycosis fungoides, folliculocentric mycosis fungoides, syringotropic mycosis fungoides, and Woringer Kolopp disease. We will review the salient features of patch, plaque, and tumor stage mycosis fungoides in this article and follow with a discussion of these variant clinicopathologic presentations and of therapeutic modalities. PMID:10892710

We demonstrate a hybrid accelerometer that benefits from the advantages of both conventional and atomic sensors in terms of bandwidth (DC to 430 Hz) and long term stability. First, the use of a real time correction of the atom interferometer phase by the signal from the classical accelerometer enables to run it at best performance without any isolation platform. Second, a servo-lock of the DC component of the conventional sensor output signal by the atomic one realizes a hybrid sensor. This method paves the way for applications in geophysics and in inertial navigation as it overcomes the main limitation of atomic accelerometers, namely, the dead times between consecutive measurements.

We present a construction of Hermitian operators and quantum states labelled by strings from a finite field. The distance between these operators or states is then simply related (typically, proportional) to the Hamming distance between their corresponding strings. This allows a straightforward application of classical coding theory to find arrangements of operators or states with a given distance distribution. Using the simplex or extended Reed-Solomon code in our construction recovers the discrete Wigner function, which has important applications in quantum information theory.

In this paper we consider the use of certain classical analogues to quantum tunneling behavior to improve the performance of simulated annealing on a discrete spin system of the general Ising form. Specifically, we consider the use of multiple simultaneous spin flips at each annealing step as an analogue to quantum spin coherence as well as modifications of the Boltzmann acceptance probability to mimic quantum tunneling. We find that the use of multiple spin flips can indeed be advantageous under certain annealing schedules, but only for long anneal times.

We discuss a class of exact finite energy solutions to the vacuum source-free Maxwell field equations as models for multi- and single cycle laser pulses in classical interaction with relativistic charged test particles. These solutions are classified in terms of their chiral content based on their influence on particular charge configurations in space. Such solutions offer a computationally efficient parameterization of compact laser pulses used in laser-matter simulations and provide a potential means for experimentally bounding the fundamental length scale in the generalized electrodynamics of Bopp, Landé and Podolsky.

We describe a new effect that produces baryons at a first order electroweak phase transition. It operates when there is a {ital CP}-violating field present on propagating bubble walls. The novel aspect is that it involves a purely classical force, which alters the motion of particles across the wall and through diffusion creates a chiral asymmetry in front of the wall. We develop a technique for computing the baryon asymmetry using the Boltzmann equation, and a fluid approximation which allows us to model strong scattering effects. The final formula for the baryon asymmetry has a remarkably simple form.

In this paper we consider the use of certain classical analogues to quantum tunneling behavior to improve the performance of simulated annealing on a discrete spin system of the general Ising form. Specifically, we consider the use of multiple simultaneous spin flips at each annealing step as an analogue to quantum spin coherence as well as modifications of the Boltzmann acceptance probability to mimic quantum tunneling. We find that the use of multiple spin flips can indeed be advantageous under certain annealing schedules, but only for long anneal times.

With the Kish-Sethuraman (KS) cipher an attempt was made, by using special operators and communication, to reach absolutely secure classical communication. First the message is bounced back with additional encryption by the Receiver and then the original encryption is removed and the message is resent by the Sender. The mechanical analogy of this operation is using two padlocks; one by the Sender and one by the Receiver. Klappenecker has pointed out that finding an efficient software realization of the operators is equivalent of proving the P ≠ NP problem. Various open problems are discussed.

The minimization of the functional of the grand potential within the framework of classical density functional theory in three spatial dimensions can be numerically very demanding. The Picard iteration, that is often employed, is very simple and robust but can be rather slow. While a number of different algorithms for optimization problems have been suggested, there is still great need for additional strategies. Here, we present an approach based on the limited memory Broyden algorithm that is efficient and relatively simple to implement. We demonstrate the performance of this algorithm with the minimization of an inhomogeneous bulk structure of a fluid with competing interactions. For the problems we studied, we find that the presented algorithm improves performance by roughly a factor of three.

We construct a self-consistent nonperturbative theory for the structure and thermodynamics of a classical system of particles that goes beyond the usual approaches based on perturbation theory. Our theory, which gives accurate predictions for the phase diagram, is based on two ingredients: first, use is made of an exact expression for the free energy of a many-body system in terms of a reference system and a coupling integral connecting the latter to the final system; second, correlation functions may be very accurately approximated using a number of sum rules relating the radial distribution function with thermodynamic quantities. Consistency between the coupling integral expression and the sum rules may be achieved by means of a self-consistent process. PMID:11800760

This paper addresses a systematic characterization of saddle-node bifurcations in nonlinear electrical and electronic circuits. Our approach is a circuit-theoretic one, meaning that the bifurcation is analyzed in terms of the devices’ characteristics and the graph-theoretic properties of the digraph underlying the circuit. The analysis is based on a reformulation of independent interest of the saddle-node theorem of Sotomayor for semiexplicit index one differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), which define the natural context to set up nonlinear circuit models. The bifurcation is addressed not only for classical circuits, but also for circuits with memristors. The presence of this device systematically leads to nonisolated equilibria, and in this context the saddle-node bifurcation is shown to yield a bifurcation of manifolds of equilibria; in cases with a single memristor, this phenomenon describes the splitting of a line of equilibria into two, with different stability properties.

This article presents how genograms, a classic family therapy technique, can be used in the context of narrative therapy. Genograms create a unique opportunity to explore and re-tell family stories thus enabling their re-authoring. An important aspect of this process is that of tracking down family resources and wisdom. The graphic form of a genogram can be very helpful in distancing a person from the dominant narrations in her/his family. Additionally, genogram analysis is an excellent opportunity to conduct re-membering conversation and introducing the "club of life" metaphor. Finally, the creative approach to drawing genograms can be an invitation for family members to "play" with their family stories and, as a consequence, re-position their roles in these stories. The article completes the presentation of the family therapy case study which was inspired by narrative ideas and genogram analysis. PMID:21613367

New materials development with different combination of properties were always a challenge in terms of their adequate use in civil engineering. Introduction of carbon fibres as strength material for structures was a beginning of a new approach in structural rehabilitation, and sometimes meant the end of classic rehabilitation solution use. The present paper gives an example of a building rehabilitation that use a melt of both new and old solutions in order to achieve the optimum result for building itself. The problem was even more challenging, because the structure considered is only 22 years old, but having some design faults in terms of seismic behaviour and, in addition, one floor was added to existing structure. The chosen solution was a compromise between the use of old and new materials in places where their qualities were best suitable and their minuses could be compensated by the other material.

In the framework of semiclassical theory the universal properties of quantum systems with classically chaotic dynamics can be accounted for through correlations between partner periodic orbits with small action differences. So far, however, the scope of this approach has been mainly limited to systems of a few particles with low-dimensional phase spaces. In the present work we consider N-particle chaotic systems with local homogeneous interactions, where N is not necessarily small. Based on a model of coupled cat maps we demonstrate emergence of a new mechanism for correlation between periodic orbit actions. In particular, we show the existence of partner orbits which are specific to many-particle systems. For a sufficiently large N these new partners dominate the spectrum of correlating periodic orbits and seem to be necessary for construction of a consistent many-particle semiclassical theory.

We revisit classical nucleation theory (CNT) for the homogeneous bubble nucleation rate and improve the classical formula using a correct prefactor in the nucleation rate. Most of the previous theoretical studies have used the constant prefactor determined by the bubble growth due to the evaporation process from the bubble surface. However, the growth of bubbles is also regulated by the thermal conduction, the viscosity, and the inertia of liquid motion. These effects can decrease the prefactor significantly, especially when the liquid pressure is much smaller than the equilibrium one. The deviation in the nucleation rate between the improved formula and the CNT can be as large as several orders of magnitude. Our improved, accurate prefactor and recent advances in molecular dynamics simulations and laboratory experiments for argon bubble nucleation enable us to precisely constrain the free energy barrier for bubble nucleation. Assuming the correction to the CNT free energy is of the functional form suggested by Tolman, the precise evaluations of the free energy barriers suggest the Tolman length is ≃0.3 σ independently of the temperature for argon bubble nucleation, where σ is the unit length of the Lennard-Jones potential. With this Tolman correction and our prefactor one gets accurate bubble nucleation rate predictions in the parameter range probed by current experiments and molecular dynamics simulations.

We revisit classical nucleation theory (CNT) for the homogeneous bubble nucleation rate and improve the classical formula using a correct prefactor in the nucleation rate. Most of the previous theoretical studies have used the constant prefactor determined by the bubble growth due to the evaporation process from the bubble surface. However, the growth of bubbles is also regulated by the thermal conduction, the viscosity, and the inertia of liquid motion. These effects can decrease the prefactor significantly, especially when the liquid pressure is much smaller than the equilibrium one. The deviation in the nucleation rate between the improved formula and the CNT can be as large as several orders of magnitude. Our improved, accurate prefactor and recent advances in molecular dynamics simulations and laboratory experiments for argon bubble nucleation enable us to precisely constrain the free energy barrier for bubble nucleation. Assuming the correction to the CNT free energy is of the functional form suggested by Tolman, the precise evaluations of the free energy barriers suggest the Tolman length is ≃0.3σ independently of the temperature for argon bubble nucleation, where σ is the unit length of the Lennard-Jones potential. With this Tolman correction and our prefactor one gets accurate bubble nucleation rate predictions in the parameter range probed by current experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. PMID:26382410

The purpose of this contribution is to describe the sequence of physical and chemical processes resulting in the sediment-type named loess, a fine-grained sediment deposit of universal occurrence. Owing to historical causes, loess has been (and still is) implicitly linked to glacial/periglacial environments among most naturalists. However it is known today that most eolian dust is deflated from tropical deserts. Hence, that sequence of processes is more comprehensive than the former narrow cold scenario. Six examples of different "non-classical" cases (from South America and Europe) that fit well to the loess definition are developed: 1) volcanic loess in Ecuador: pyroclastic eruptions/valley wind/mountain praire/silica structuring; 2) tropical loess in northeastern Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay: deflation of river and fan splays/savanna/iron sesquioxide structuring; 3) gypsum loess in northern Spain: destruction of anhydrite/gypsiferous layers in a dry climate/valley wind/Saharian shrub peridesert/gypsum structuring; 4) trade-wind deposits in Venezuela and Brazil: deflation in tidal flats/trade wind into the continent/savanna/iron hydroxide structuring; 5) anticyclonic gray loess in Argentina: continental anticyclone on plains/anti-clockwise winds and whirls/steppe/carbonate structuring. All these non-classical types conform to the accepted loess definitions and they also share the most important field characteristics of loess such as grain size, friability, vertical or sub-vertical slopes in outcrops, subfusion and others. Other cases can probably be recognized when systematically scrutinized.

The pyrochlore spin ice compounds Dy2TiO7 and Ho2Ti2O7 are well described by classical Ising models down to low temperatures. Given the empirical success of this description, the question of the importance of quantum effects in these materials has been mostly ignored. We argue that the common wisdom that the strictly Ising moments of non-interacting Dy3+ and Ho3+ ions imply Ising interactions is too naive and that a more complex argument is needed to explain the close agreement between the classical Ising model theory and experiments. By considering a microscopic picture of the interactions in rare-earth oxides, we show that the high-rank multipolar interactions needed to induce quantum effects in these two materials are generated only very weakly by superexchange. Using this framework, we formulate an estimate of the scale of quantum effects in Dy2Ti2O7 and Ho2Ti2O7, finding it to be well below experimentally relevant temperatures. Published as: PHYSICAL REVIEW B 92, 144417 (2015).

We show that, in contrast to known results in the massive case, a minimally gauged massless Rarita-Schwinger field yields a consistent classical theory, with a generalized fermionic gauge invariance realized as a canonical transformation. To simplify the algebra, we study a two-component left chiral reduction of the massless theory. We formulate the classical theory in both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian form for a general non-Abelian gauging and analyze the constraints and the Rarita-Schwinger gauge invariance of the action. An explicit wave front calculation for Abelian gauge fields shows that wavelike modes do not propagate with superluminal velocities. An analysis of Rarita-Schwinger spinor scattering from gauge fields shows that adiabatic decoupling fails in the limit of zero gauge field amplitude, invalidating various "no-go" theorems based on "on-shell" methods that claim to show the impossibility of gauging Rarita-Schwinger fields. Quantization of Rarita-Schwinger fields, using many formulas from this paper, is taken up in the following paper.

We challenge the hypothesis that the ground states of a physical system whose degeneracy depends on topology must necessarily realize topological quantum order and display nonlocal entanglement. To this end, we introduce and study a classical rendition of the Toric Code model embedded on Riemann surfaces of different genus numbers. We find that the minimal ground state degeneracy (and those of all levels) depends on the topology of the embedding surface alone. As the ground states of this classical system may be distinguished by local measurements, a characteristic of Landau orders, this example illustrates that topological degeneracy is not a sufficient condition for topological quantum order. This conclusion is generic and, as shown, it applies to many other models. We also demonstrate that certain lattice realizations of these models, and other theories, display a ground state entropy (and those of all levels) that is "holographic", i.e., extensive in the system boundary. We find that clock and U (1 ) gauge theories display topological (in addition to gauge) degeneracies.

Relational particle mechanics models bolster the relational side of the absolute versus relational motion debate. They are additionally toy models for the dynamical formulation of general relativity (GR) and its problem of time (PoT). They cover two aspects that the more commonly studied minisuperspace GR models do not: (1) by having a nontrivial notion of structure and thus of cosmological structure formation and of localized records. (2) They have linear as well as quadratic constraints, which is crucial as regards modeling many PoT facets. I previously solved relational triangleland classically, quantum mechanically and as regards a local resolution of the PoT. This rested on triangleland's shape space being 𝕊2 with isometry group SO(3), allowing for use of widely-known geometry, methods and atomic/molecular physics analogies. I now extend this work to the relational quadrilateral, which is far more typical of the general N-a-gon, represents a "diagonal to nondiagonal Bianchi IX minisuperspace" step-up in complexity, and encodes further PoT subtleties. The shape space now being ℂℙ2 with isometry group SU(3)/ℤ3, I now need to draw on geometry, shape statistics and particle physics to solve this model; this is therefore an interdisciplinary paper. This Paper treats quadrilateralland at the classical level, and then paper II provides a quantum treatment.

We give an overview of some conceptual difficulties, sometimes called paradoxes, that have puzzled for years the physical interpetation of classical canonical gravity and, by extension, the canonical formulation of generally covariant theories. We identify these difficulties as stemming form some terminological misunderstandings as to what is meant by "gauge invariance", or what is understood classically by a "physical state". We make a thorough analysis of the issue and show that all purported paradoxes disappear when the right terminology is in place. Since this issue is connected with the search of observables - gauge invariant quantities - for these theories, we formally show that time evolving observables can be constructed for every observer. This construction relies on the fixation of the gauge freedom of diffeomorphism invariance by means of a scalar coordinatization. We stress the condition that the coordinatization must be made with scalars. As an example of our method for obtaining observables we discuss the case of the massive particle in AdS spacetime.

Random walk methods and diffusion theory pervaded ecological sciences as methods to analyze and describe animal movement. Consequently, statistical physics was mostly seen as a toolbox rather than as a conceptual framework that could contribute to theory on evolutionary biology and ecology. However, the existence of mechanistic relationships and feedbacks between behavioral processes and statistical patterns of movement suggests that, beyond movement quantification, statistical physics may prove to be an adequate framework to understand animal behavior across scales from an ecological and evolutionary perspective. Recently developed random search theory has served to critically re-evaluate classic ecological questions on animal foraging. For instance, during the last few years, there has been a growing debate on whether search behavior can include traits that improve success by optimizing random (stochastic) searches. Here, we stress the need to bring together the general encounter problem within foraging theory, as a mean for making progress in the biological understanding of random searching. By sketching the assumptions of optimal foraging theory (OFT) and by summarizing recent results on random search strategies, we pinpoint ways to extend classic OFT, and integrate the study of search strategies and its main results into the more general theory of optimal foraging.

Angiogenesis is sustained by classical and non-classical proangiogenic factors (PFs) acting in tumor microenvironment and these factors are also potential targets of antiangiogenic therapies. All PFs induce the overexpression of several signaling pathways that lead to migration and proliferation of endothelial cells contributing to tumor angiogenesis and survival of cancer cells. In this review, we have analyzed each PF with its specific receptor/s and we have summarized the available antiangiogenic drugs (e.g. monoclonal antibodies) targeting these PFs, some of these agents have already been approved, others are currently in development for the treatment of several human malignancies. PMID:26238184

Quantum delocalization of atomic nuclei affects the physical properties of many hydrogen-rich liquids and biological systems even at room temperature. In computer simulations, quantum nuclei can be modeled via the path-integral formulation of quantum statistical mechanics, which implies a substantial increase in computational overhead. By restricting the quantum description to a small spatial region, this cost can be significantly reduced. Herein, we derive a bottom-up, rigorous, Hamiltonian-based scheme that allows molecules to change from quantum to classical and vice versa on the fly as they diffuse through the system, both reducing overhead and making quantum grand-canonical simulations possible. The method is validated via simulations of low-temperature parahydrogen. Our adaptive resolution approach paves the way to efficient quantum simulations of biomolecules, membranes, and interfaces. PMID:27214610

The founding fathers of the United States were products of a classical education, and they used the Greek and Roman classics as republican models and classical virtues. In their writings, the founders frequently associated liberty and republicanism with the ancient commonwealths. John Adams spoke on three separate occasions of the need to reflect…